Get In Line
by dobbyismyhero22
Summary: Jordan Moseley had a knack for getting herself into sticky situations but never before had those situations involved so much James Potter.
1. Chapter 1

"GET A MOVE ON WOMAN!" My, at the moment, deeply annoying stepbrother shouted at me for about the thirtieth time as we hurled through Kings Cross station.

You'd think after nearly seven years we'd learn to wake up early enough to not have to sprint through nearly two hundred people, taking out mass amounts of small children and stepping on over thousands of toes, but alas, no. We're unfortunately just as dumb as we were when we were eleven year olds.

I almost felt bad for slamming my trunk into an old, crotchety looking woman's shins. Almost.

I mean, seriously, if you see an insane, half crazed looking teenage girl flying towards you with a massive trunk in one hand and a squawking owl in the other, then you'd think you'd learn to jump out of the way. Common sense seems to escape some people these days.

"JORDAN, MOVE YOUR SKINNY LITTLE ASS AND HUSSLE!" Silas screamed at me, attracting death glares from mothers with their little ones that just learned a new curse word.

I was about point five seconds away from decapitating him myself, but the Hogwarts Express' engines suddenly roared to life and the whistles blasted, signaling that it was about to leave, and I knew it wasn't quite the time for murder plans.

A few choice swear words sprouted out of my mouth as I jumped onto the train after him. And when I saw jumped, I literally mean jumped since the blasted train was already slowly starting to move. I probably appeared like I was straight out of a mental institute to all of the on-lookers, but you have to do what you have to do.

"Let's go, we have to find the others, kee—" Silas started to say, effortlessly carrying his trunk as if it was a bloody feather while my arms screamed out in protest as I lugged mine behind me.

"If you tell me to keep up one more time, I'll hex you into next week." I growled violently at him, wishing I had a rock or some other heavy object that I could nail him in the head with. His brown eyes twinkled at my growing irritation and a little smirk played on the corner of his lips.

"You could never hex me, darling sister. You adore me far too much." He said with a grin spread widely across his face as slowed his pace so he could swing a good-natured arm around my shoulders.

"I thank Merlin every day that I don't actually share the same blood as you." I shot back causing him to laugh because he knew it wasn't true.

In all honesty, even though he was a right prat half the time, Silas was the best non-actual brother that a girl could want. His dad ditched his mum when he was just a bun in the oven while my mum at least waited till I was at the ripe age of three before bailing.

I haven't had a real conversation with her in the past eight years. We used to exchange owls every now and then but those stopped when I turned nine and asked her when she was going to stop being a flighty shit mum and come back to raise her child.

Needless to say, she didn't get back to me on that one.

Also needless to say, I was a very abrasive nine year old.

My dad got married to Silas' mum when I was seven and I hated Silas more than anything. To be fair, he was an extreme git when he was a kid and regularly put honey in my shampoo. I got him back by pancing him in the middle of Diagon Alley on a Saturday, but the memory of chunks of my sticky, light brown locks falling out still stings in the back of my mind.

I think we started to slowly like each other when Ava was born when we were ten. There was suddenly a new little brat that came into our lives and screamed endlessly, constantly demanding the attention that we had a difficult time gaining ourselves.

Daphne, Silas' mum, was thrilled to have a kid that actually had a father plus the daughter of her very own that she always craved so Silas was indefinitely pushed to the side. Meanwhile, my dad, who rarely stopped working, managed to find time, but instead chose to spend it with his newborn daughter as opposed to the one he already had.

It's no wonder that two ten year olds would be decently salty about this change of events so, naturally, we plotted against our newborn half sister.

Looking back, the various ways we planned her downfall were actually quite frightening and, honestly, inhumanely demented but I think we both look past it because it somehow brought us together.

I leaned my head against his shoulder and then licked the side of his face. One, because I wanted to piss him off and two, because I can't have a nice moment with someone unless I know I'm going to ruin it later seconds later.

Silas made a noise of disgust that caused me to grin self satisfiedly. "You're lucky I didn't leave your ass in bed this morning, you little shit." He barked and 'lightly' punched me in the gut as he pushed open the door to the compartment that we shared since first year.

"Sup bitches," Silas yelled in an obnoxious, high-pitched voice, drawing the attention of our group of fellow Slytherins.

"It's cool, guys. The party can officially start now that the Greengrass/Moseley clan has arrived," I added, ruffling Silas' hair as I threw my trunk into his open arms for him to put on the top racks and plopped myself down next to my best friend since I started Hogwarts.

A lot of people wondered why Hazel Scott, pretty much the sweetest girl in the entire world (on the surface at least; only I know what a sarcastic little bint she is), was in Slytherin. In fact, when the Sorting Hat screamed out her house, she actually started crying and begged McGonagall to change her to Hufflepuff. Unfortunately for her, her ambition to become a curse breaker had overtaken her overpowering level of niceness.

A lot of people also wonder how she became to be friends with me when we are such polar opposites. While she likes to spend her Friday nights doing Arithmancy extra credit with her Satan-spawned devil cat, Paula, curled up on her lap, I like to go do sketchy shit that I almost always regret in the morning.

Also while she's involved in just about everything the school has to offer including being the Seeker on the quidditch team, being a prefect, a member of the Gobstones club, president of both Charms club and Arithmancy club, and a chairman of the Wizard's Chess Society, I manage to not do anything but sleep and eat scary amounts of cookie dough ice cream.

We really don't add up as a friendship yet at the same time we balance each other out perfectly considering I make her not be a stick in the mud and she makes me not ruin my life in one way or another.

She wasn't the only one that was surprised to be a Slytherin though. The ambition thing happened with Silas as well I'm sure. While his last name _is_ Greengrass, a pure blooded family that dates back generations, he didn't believe in the whole 'my blood is better than your blood thing'. The only time he'd ever even think about harming someone else was on the quidditch pitch and he wanted to go pro more than Hazel wanted to spread flowers and happiness on among the universe.

The rest of our group was finished off with Mitch Walker, Cyrus Palmer, and Scorpius Malfoy.

Mitch, no doubt about it, was meant to be a Slytherin. He was simply just an outright asshole. You became used to his assaholic tendencies after awhile and now it's fairly hilarious to watch as he gets regularly abused for the idiotic comments he makes on a daily basis.

Cyrus was an asshole as well but once you took a look at how beautiful his face and his body was you forgot it all and just wanted to congratulate him on his everything.

Scorpius was a different story entirely and he was in a different grade entirely. While the five of us were all seventh years, he was the lone sixth year. He's Silas' cousin so he became adopted into our group when we discovered that all the Slytherins blokes in his year acted as though they lived with trolls and giants their entire lives. He was far more mature than both Mitch and Cyrus combined and was just as fit with his bright silver eyes and silky golden hair.

He had a sort of sensitive side that you didn't see in most Slytherins and he had confided in Hazel and I once that he asked to be put in our house so that way his father wouldn't be disappointed in him. He was originally meant to be in Gryffindor, surprisingly, but since that would most likely cause his dad to drop over dead, he silently begged the hat to put him with the rest of the snakes. He fit in with our group well enough. He could out drink Silas by a mile and could play a mean game of quidditch so it was really no question with whether or not he belonged.

"I hate to break it to you, love, but the party doesn't start until after the feast tonight when we are joined by a hefty bottle of Firewhiskey in our dorm." Cyrus said, across from me, with a mischievous grin planted on his unfairly attractive face.

"Don't tell me you forgot about the tradition we've had since fourth year!" Silas said in astonishment, throwing himself down in between Scorpius and Cyrus.

"How could she possibly forget, mate? Last year she was too hung-over to go to any of her classes and got detention for a week." Mitch graciously pointed out.

"That's rich coming from the one that woke up in a pool of his own vomit on Hagrid's front steps." I shot back with an eyebrow raised that wiped the smirk straight off his face.

"To be fair, that vomit could have been from Hagrid himself." Scorpius interjected reasonably.

"Are we going to have another little mini strip tease from our lovely Hazza?" Mitch asked and suddenly every bloke's face, as well as mine, broke out into an identical grin as Hazel's face turned to the color of a ripe tomato.

Last year, you see, was the first time we somehow miraculously got Hazel to drink and after three shots, she claimed that the dorm room too hot and striped down to just her knickers.

Now if you knew Hazel as well as I do, you'd know that shit like that never, and I repeat, _never_ happened. So I, being the incredible, thoughtful friend that I am, decided to document the occasion with pictures.

Let's just say Hazel Jocelyn Scott better never cross me or else snapshots of her dancing half naked with a bottle of Firewhiskey in one hand and a lit joint in the other with Mitch, Scorpius, Silas, and Cyrus all in the background looking ecstatically surprised will be all over the school faster than you can say blackmail.

Then again, Hazel would never dream of crossing a person even if they murdered her parents and ate her cat for dinner. Plus I could never do that to her even though it would be bloody hilarious.

"I believe I told you the next morning that I'm never consuming that shit again." She said with a groan, burying her face in her perfectly manicured hands.

"Yes, but that's what you said after the Halloween party, the Christmas party, the New Year's party, and all of our seventeenth birthday parties so excuse me if we don't actually believe you." Cyrus told her, trying and failing to refrain from laughing at her dismay.

"But I'm serious this time." She insisted with a look of determination on her face.

"Let us all paint you a little picture, Hazel dear, of what's going to happen tonight," Silas started and then clasped his hands together, placed them on his lap, and gestured with a nod of his head for me to set the scene.

I cleared my throat for the dramatic effect before beginning.

"The night will start off at the feast where all of us will be merrily eating and enjoying our roast beef while flicking our peas at the terrified first years, as per always. We'll have Scorpius casually ask you if you are going to come to the boy's dorm this year because we know that he's the one you trust not to trick you the most. You'll say no, of course, but after some convincing you'll say how you'll come up for _one_ hour and that's it."

At this point Cyrus, Mitch, Scorpius, and Silas all were listening to me in amused interest while Hazel had her arms folded bitterly across her chest knowing that this is _exactly_ how the night would played out.

"We'll go up to the dorm, some drinks we'll be poured, but you'll refuse everyone to try to maintain the responsibility of the group. But then Mitch will say something mushy and out of character about how this is our last year together and Scorpius will say how lonely he'll be without us. You'll start to get sad so you promise to join in on _one_ toast because it's bad luck not to drink when someone is toasting. That _one_ toast will turn into _one_ shot and then that _one_ shot will turn into seven and before you know it, you'll be hammered out of your mind."

"Then you'll both take off your bras and shake your ta-tas for us and we'll all be happy." Cyrus tacked onto the end causing Hazel to shoot him a disgusted glare and for me to attempt to reach across to him and whack him in the gut for ruining my well-painted scenario.

Unfortunately for me, I ended up leaning a bit too far forward and my face slammed straight in between his legs.

How lovely.

"Enjoying the view, sweetheart?" Cyrus laughed mockingly at the position that I had ended up in.

"We can all leave if you two would like some privacy to rekindle your relations from last year?" Mitch suggested, while Silas made a noise of disgust, with a shit-eating grin plastered across his shit-eating face, referring to the fact that Cyrus and I hooked up once or twice last year.

Or, you know, like thirty-four times, but that's beside the point.

We had had the typical 'friends with benefits' situation going on in secret for a while. Once people started finding out it though became less fun with the constant death threats Cyrus was receiving on a daily basis from Silas. We eventually came to a mutual decision that we should stop so he didn't suffer some sort of aneurysm.

I spun around and hurled myself on top of him with my wand at his throat. A smart man would be currently terrified considering that I was one of the best in our year at Defense but Mitch's face remained impassive other than the little smirk that was pulling up the corner of his lips.

"At least buy me dinner first, love." He commented lazily after noticing that I was pretty much unintentionally straddling him and then put his hands directly on my ass just to be a douche bag.

I love my friends, I really do.

Before I, or Silas for that matter, could slap him across the face, another voice entered the compartment.

"So this is what the Slytherins do behind closed doors then? Do you each have a go at her or is Walker the only one that's getting any action this year?"

My head snapped to the side when I saw James Potter leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes twinkling in amusement at his own unfunny joke. Fred and Louis Weasley along with his little brother Albus were at his flanks.

"I don't like what you're insinuating about my sister, Potter." Silas barked, his fists immediately clenching, and I refused to let my face flush as I threw myself off of Mitch and back into my original seat.

"There's nothing to insinuate. Everybody and their mothers knew that Moseley spent the majority of last year fucking Palmer here; I was just merely curious if she was switching it up a bit." He said condescendingly, quirking up a perfect eyebrow.

And that's just it, everything about James was perfect. From his liquid gold eyes to his black messy hair that looked like he just stepped out of a quidditch photo shoot to his impeccable body that I'm sure looked just as good without clothes on as it did with, he was flawless. Especially now, even after pretty much just calling me a slag, in his charcoal gray jumper with the sleeves carelessly rolled up and dark jeans that were tight in all the right places he looked fit, proper fit, and it made me want to light myself on fire.

I didn't take what he was saying personally even though everyone else in the compartment was. I knew he was just trying to get a rise out of us all because that's what James Potter enjoyed doing most and, of course, it was working.

Innocent little Hazel was glaring at James with such intensity that you'd wonder how he didn't shrivel up on the spot and Cyrus, Mitch, Scorpius, and Silas all looked like they were seriously refraining from beating the shit out of him while I was merely picking at my chipping nail polish.

"Did you come here just to be a prat to one of the few intelligent girls that won't give you the time of day or to further prove how much of an asshole you are to the small amount of people that already know?" Silas snapped at him while I examined how shitty my nail beds were.

"Contrary to popular belief, I did not come here for a fight so you lot can stop clenching your fists, pretending like you actually have enough balls to punch me." James shot back with the side of his mouth pulling up into one of his famous, infuriatingly sexy smirks.

"Then why did you come?" Hazel hissed, the anger obvious in her voice if it wasn't already by the way she was staring at James as if she wished he would simultaneously combust into thin air.

Hazel, like I said, is the sweetest person alive… Unless you do or say something bad to one of her friends. Then she'll rip off your skin, eat it for dinner, and then wash it down with your blood.

Violent, yes, but hey, she didn't get to be a Slytherin _just_ by being ambitious.

"We came to give a warning." Fred Weasley said in a remarkably serious voice, speaking up for the first time since the Gryffindors entered our compartment. This was unusual for him because normally he couldn't resist saying some sort of idiotic comment within the first minute of a conversation. Also, the last time I've seen him be even remotely serious was when he accidentally killed his illegal pet bunny during the Halloween Feast of second year.

"If it's a warning that you're going to beat us this year in quidditch then keep dream—" Mitch started to say but Albus cut him off.

"It's actually a message for Malfoy." He said with a nod of his head in Scorpius' direction and we all looked at Scorpius in surprise mingled with curiosity.

One of the things about Scorpius that set him apart from Cyrus, Silas, and Mitch was that he never got involved in anything that could bring any sort of drama or social interference into his life.

Growing up in a family like his, he liked to stay away from anything that would get him attention other than his good grades and quidditch skill so yes, it was a big shock that the Wotters had their 'warning' directed towards _him_ of all people.

"And what would that message be, Potter?" Scorpius asked coolly with a look of dull boredom on his face.

"Stay away from Rosie." Fred ordered, answering for Albus. "She's too good for you and always will be too good for you."

Scorpius' face, unlike all of our dumbstruck ones, remained impassive. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"We found the letters, Malfoy." James said simply and elusively. I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination, but Scorpius' face seemed to go a slight shade of pink at his words. Satisfied by this, James, along with his brother and cousins, exited the compartment without another word.

"What the hell was that?" Mitch asked, rounding on Scorpius, as soon as the door shut.

"What?" Scorpius asked, feigning innocence. "Potter has always been off his rocker, we've known that for years."

"Fair enough, but seriously man, Rose _Weasley_?" Mitch said, screwing up his face in distaste.

"I'd almost rather have you nailing Kelsey Kramer." Cyrus muttered and Silas grunted in agreement.

Kelsey Kramer was the lowest of the low. She was one of those girls that drew whiskers on her face because she wanted to be a cat and had massive hickeys permanently on her neck from her 'fiancé' that she's known for three weeks.

So the fact that I agreed with that statement as well really tells you how much our group detested Rose Weasley.

Silas didn't like her for strictly quidditch purposes only, which is the sole reason that he disliked anyone. He was still bitter that she knocked him clean off his broom during last year's quidditch cup final causing Slytherin to lose our star Keeper. Thankfully Hazel caught the snitch fast or else the final score would've been a lot worse than 420-260.

Mitch didn't like her because she had single-handedly given him forty-seven detentions last year for continually sneaking out to the kitchens at random wee hours of the night. It's not his fault that he constantly got cravings for peanut butter and jelly in the middle of the night that needed to be satisfied.

Hazel didn't like her because in fourth year she aimed a bludger straight at the end of Hazel's brand new, extremely expensive broomstick, effectively smashing it to pieces, as well as breaking Hazel's leg, arm, and three fingers when she slammed to the ground.

Cyrus and I didn't like her for the same reason. She was the one that found us 'canoodling' in an empty classroom during free period and then all but screamed it to entire Great Hall less than an hour later at lunch.

She claimed it was an accident, but bitch, how in the hell does that shit just slip out?

Immediately after her little 'announcement', Cyrus was sporting two black eyes and a bruised rib and Silas had three weeks detention for purposefully maiming his best friend.

Let's just say that there was a shit ton of tension in the air for a long while after that incident.

"They were exchanging letters, for Merlin's sake. Potter didn't say anything about them sleeping together." Hazel busted in, always the voice of reason.

"Haz is right. The real matter at hand is how we are going to get back at that asswipe for insulting Mose." Scorpius said, trying and succeeding to change the subject away from himself.

"Good point. That'll be our mission for tonight: Devise a plan to get back at the bastard while getting totally and completely shit faced at the same time." Cyrus said, putting his fist in the middle of the compartment.

"Hell yeah, fucking right!" Mitch exclaimed with an extreme amount of enthusiasm, being the first to fist bump him back.

We immediately all joined in with identical grins spreading across our faces and we came up with a simple, yet mildly brilliant plan to get back at James Potter.

Sure, we've had better but it would certainly do the trick and it would _definitely_ set off a chain of revenge that would continue far into the rest of the year.

Let the games begin, motherfucker.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Punk'd nor anything else you recognize.

One of the benefits of being a Slytherin, along with the fact that I look _fantastic_ in green, is that no one gives a shit. Nearly all of us have grown up turning a blind eye at illegal activities of all sorts so when nearly the entire boy's half of the dormitories filled up with smoke of the shady sort, no one would even think to rat…Well, with the exception of Harrison Sloss, that is.

Harrison, or as we like to call him Hairy Slossage, is Cyrus, Silas, and Mitch's fourth official roommate. He's the type of kid that farts in the middle of class and then purposefully tries to waft it in your direction in an attempt to suffocate you with his own brand of toxic gas. He only showers about once a month and if you make fun of him for his rancid body odor he uses his prefect power to land you in detention for two weeks.

We would have been in danger of him squealing on us to a professor, but fortunately, Mitch caught him doing vastly inappropriate things to himself last year that he managed to get a picture of. Let's just say that we've been successfully blackmailing him ever since.

Granted, it isn't exactly the best thing morally to do, but it gets the job done. For instance, they managed to get him to switch dorms with Scorpius so now Slossage is with all of the sixth year trolls instead.

"Mose, for Christ's sake, stop blowing that shit in my face, I'm trying to explain the plan!" Silas snapped irritably, waving the smoke away from himself. I grinned lazily before taking another hit, blew more of it directly at him, and passed the joint to Cyrus.

Silas, who would give up both of his kidneys for quidditch, refused to do anything that might get him kicked off the team so drugs, no matter how innocent, were not his thing. Of course he was already quite drunk and slurring his words, but he decided that shots of Firewhiskey were alright.

Everyone else was quite drunk as well, with the exception of me, who was just high. Hazel's night played out almost exactly like I said and she was currently residing on the floor, giggling at a sock. Cyrus was both high and drunk and I could tell he was just trying not to fall asleep. Mitch, on the other hand, who got very worked up when he was drunk, was pestering Scorpius to tell him what the letters were about and was currently on his knees, close to tears because Scorp wasn't giving in.

It was driving me to insanity already, not knowing what the deal was with Rose and Scorpius. I was used to Scorpius being private and elusive but right now it was just pissing me the hell off. Granted it could be nothing but part of me knew deep down that there was something going on and I fucking hated it. Since Scorpius was Silas' cousin, I thought of him as my cousin and I'd go running through the Great Hall butt ass naked professing my love for Gryffindors before I allowed him to date Rose Weasley.

Silas was trying, to no avail, to get everyone to listen to him, but he was just having difficulties forming proper sentences. "Does everyone understand the plan?" He managed to get out after struggling for a good five minutes.

"Yes, goddamn, you only went over it fifteen times!" I responded exasperatedly and kicked him off his own bed. His lack of the ability to currently balance made him land in a pathetic heap on the floor.

The plan was really quite simple as well as idiotic. Our original, brilliant prank that we devised on the train was shot to hell as soon as we cracked open the first bottle of Firewhiskey when almost all of us realized that we wouldn't be able to so much as perform a first year level spell let alone a complex charm.

The one that we currently had was obviously come up with by drunk, stupid teenagers. A good majority of the plan involved me, which is why I wasn't drinking so I didn't royally screw it up. Basically, I had to sneak into the Gryffindor common room (not difficult after threatening a first year into giving us the password), find the 7th year boy's dorm, and shoot a signal out the window indicating which window was the correct one.

The boys and Hazel would be circulating the tower on their broomsticks waiting for the signal while I had three minutes to leave the tower before they threw in their entire stash of Dr. Filibuster's Fireworks, thus waking and scaring the living shit out of all the lion bastards in the room.

I know what you're thinking... Why am _I_ , of all people, the one that sneaks into the dorm? Well, for one, I have a ridiculously crippling fear of heights that prevented me from getting on a broomstick even if you paid me a thousand galleons. Also, Silas felt it was _essential_ that I was the one that was the key part of the plan because I was the one that was truly getting back at James Potter.

That's a complete load of bullshit if you ask me but considering that Silas couldn't even walk in a straight line, I knew he wasn't even near capable of quietly sneaking into Gryffindor territory without getting caught.

The real question is, how in the hell are Scorpius, Mitch, Silas, Cyrus, and Hazel going to successfully fly their broomsticks without killing themselves in the process? To that, I had no answer and I was more than thankful that it wasn't my problem. I trusted Scorpius, the most sober out of the bunch, to get them through the prank without nosediving into the ground or purposefully flying into the Whomping Willow.

Scorpius and I lead the parade of morons that we called our friends out of the dorm with their broomsticks and into the Slytherin common room where Silas insisted we go over the plan one more time. We didn't bother being quiet, knowing that no one would ever rat, but the eyes of all the cleaning house elves made me paranoid, which was one of the untold side effects of being high.

None of us had any fears about walking around the school corridors in the middle of the night. We were Slytherins and therefore far more cunning than the rest of the school and we knew how to use that to our advantage. I'd like to think of us as fairly nice people overall but when it came to getting information, we knew how to get shit done. We knew when each prefect or teacher patrolled each hallway and at what time. We also managed to get Peeves on our side in our third year so if he sees us out in the middle of the night he throws venemous plants on whichever authority figure that is in a thousand foot radius.

I parted ways with the rest of them at the foot of the staircase that lead in the direction of the Gryffindor common room so they could set out to the base of the tower.

They all attempted to wish me good luck but such a simple task for them could not currently be done.

Hazel couldn't manage anything besides random fits of giggles where she nearly collasped into a portrait of an affronted looking old man clutching a bowl of fruit.

Mitch tried to lean in for a hug but just decided to slap my ass like the disgustingly loveable pig that he is.

This then caused Silas slam his hands to head and moan about how his friends always tried to hit on his sister. After that he was too bitter to talk to anyone.

Cyrus, not wanting to cause Silas even more of a stroke, just looked at me, pounded his fist on his chest twice, and then shot me the peace sign.

Scorpius was too busy trying to get Hazel to get her shit together to say anything to me so the rest of them just left without another word and to be honest, I was happy to be shot of them for the next twenty beautiful minutes.

Being around drunk people when you're not drunk may be entertaining for a good ten minutes but after that it's fucking annoying.

I got into the common room successfully after telling a portrait of a throughly confused obese women the password. I crept as quietly as possible up the boy's staircase that seemed about eight miles long; there was a reason I was a Slytherin and lived in the dungeons…I don't do fucking stairs.

Truth be told, I have no bloody idea why I agreed to this. Did I honestly care that much about what James Potter thought of me? No. But unfortunately, as I reached the 7th year boy's dormitory, I knew I was too late to come to this conclusion.

I slowly twisted the door handle and slid in as silently as I could. Immediately, the retched smell of boy odor masked with body spray infiltrated my nostrils and I had to resist the urge to gag. It was pitch black but I could hear the chainsaw like snoring sounding throughout the room so I took that as a good sign.

I, however, couldn't have been more wrong. I wasn't even three feet inside the door when a nonverbal disarming spell sent my wand flying out of my grasp, and a rough hand was suddenly clamped down over top of my mouth, preventing the shrill scream that I tried to let loose, while the tip of someone else's wand was jabbing at my throat.

"Nice try, Moseley," James Potter's voice growled with his lips brushing against my ear as a result of his extremely close proximity.

He backed up slowly toward the door and I could do nothing but follow along with him as he moved. My heart was thumping outside of my chest since I was completely and utterly useless without my wand. My fate now resided in James Potter and we all know that that is a horrid thing.

Once we were back in the stairwell with the door closed, James hissed with a certain ferocity, "I'm going to let you go now, but make a single sound and I'll hex you into next week."

The imbecile had my wand so I knew he'd actually follow through with that so when he did let me go, I didn't even bother to try and run. Instead, I spun around to face him and said with a raised eyebrow, "Is that a threat, Potter?"

"Might I remind you, Moseley, that you snuck into _my_ dorm. Now why, do tell, don't I have every right to threaten you?" He instantly retorted, folding his unfairly muscular arms across his deeply toned chest and cocking his head to the side as if he was seriously interested in my response, or there lack of.

I took all of him in, in the little amount of light that the fire on the stonewall provided. His black hair was even more perpetually messy from his pillow and he was clad in an old scarlet quidditch tee shirt and black athletic shorts. He looked just plain _boyish_ and I didn't understand why someone that was so much of an asshole could be so attractive.

Since I really didn't have an adequate response to this, I remained silent and he took that as a sign to continue to open his idiotic mouth.

"I'll make you a deal, Moseley. If you help me out with getting to the bottom of this Malfoy/Rose business, then I won't tell anybody about you sneaking into my dorm room in the middle of the night with unknown intentions." Potter said, throwing in a little smirk as if I was planning on sexually assaulting him. "I'll even let you continue with your pathetic little prank that you were surely going to pull and pretend to give a shit about that outcome." He added in nonchalantly at the end, reading me like a book.

About 97 different emotions flooded through me at one time, which, as you can imagine, was quite overwhelming. I'm a Slytherin. We are taught to feel two things: Irritation and anger.

The main feeling that took over though was confusion.

"My father taught me to never make a deal with the devil, Potter." I snapped, trying to seem as if I was merely just annoyed.

"Your father must've taught you not to get blazed out of your mind, fuck around, and drink until you puke either but that hasn't stopped you, now has it?" He shot back immediately.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I blurted out stupidly, deciding that playing dumb was the best choice.

That's when he took the light of his wand and shined it directly in my, most likely, very glassy and bloodshot eyes. "Come on, Moseley, I know a stoner when I see one." He said arrogantly and I swatted the wand light out of my face.

"Why would you need my help in the first place?" I hissed irritably. "Why not just enlist the help of your band of idiots that you call your family? I thought that I was just a dirty slag to you?"

He chose to simply smirk at this. "Who ever said I thought you're dirty? You look fairly clean for a Slytherin."

"So I'm just a slag then, is that right?" I snarled with color quickly rising to my cheeks. My hand yearned for my wand so I could blast him halfway to Mexico.

"Aw, Moseley, you're not _just_ a slag. I'm sure you're many other things than just that." He said patronizingly and to add to it, dared to give me a pat on the head.

I was at the point where I'd probably kill someone (aka James Potter) just to have my wand.

"How very kind of you." I grimaced, slapping his hand away.

"I do try. Back to your original question though, the reason why I am not enlisting the help of far more preferable company is that you and I are after the same goal here. It's clear it's killing you inside not knowing what's going on between Rosie and Malfoy and it's killing me as well. It's obvious that you hate Rose and it's evident that I loathe Malfoy so we might as well help each other out on this one."

My ears must not be working. This was James Potter…James BLOODY Potter saying that I, a _Slytherin_ , should team up with him.

This is when Voldemort jumps out from around the corner and tells me I've just been Punk'd.

"Say I were to help you, Potter, who would know about this? I can't have hanging out with a Gryffindor ruining my rep."

What I mostly meant by that is that I can't have my friends know that I was teaming up with James Potter. I'm pretty sure they'd all shit their pants twice and then keel over and die.

"Ah yes, your glowing reputation as a good-for-nothing snake?" He commented lazily while leaning against the wall and ruffling his already tousled hair. "Don't you worry, it won't be tarnished in any way. It'll be kept between the two of us."

I weighed the pros and cons of actually going through with it.

Pro: I would hopefully find out what the hell Scorpius and Rose were up to.

Con: I'd have to spend time with Potter.

Pro: Honestly though, think about it, what the fuck else did I have to do with my time?

Con: I'd have to spend time with Potter.

I couldn't fully decide if the pros outweighed the cons and, although it was against my better judgement, I had to admit that I was curious and it would make for an interesting last year.

"Once again, assuming that I did help you, how do you expect to figure out what Scorp and Rose are up to without them finding out?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. "I mean, Rose may be as daft as half dead troll but Scorpius isn't stupid."

"Don't even, Moseley." He snapped and his golden brown eyes narrowed. "You know that Rose is one of the best in her year."

"Yeah, second to Scorpius," I pointed out with a small smirk and a quirked eyebrow.

"Did you shag him too, Moseley? Is that why you're so jealous of Rose and defensive of Malfoy?" He questioned with an evil grin. He pulled his arms behind his head and stretched backwards casually, revealing a bit of his incredibly toned stomach which cause a bit of my brain to go blank.

If I ever met Harry Potter and his wife I wouldn't know whether I should congratulate them or slaughter them both for putting such a beautifully attractive yet absolutely infuriating creature on the planet.

"You're vile," I spat and had an extremely strong urge to shove him down the steps. "Scorpius is practically my cousin."

"Hey, I'm not judging." He said with his grin spread even wider across his face and his hands up in surrender. "I heard you Slytherins were into incest."

"I'm sure then that you've also heard that I'm the best in the year at defense so I'd keep your mouth shut unless you want me to hex you to the point where you can't even remember how to take a piss." I said with a deadly tone.

"That's all very well but it'd be quite impossible to do so without your wand, now wouldn't it?" He pointed out, twirling my wand between his fingers, throwing in another smirk with his golden eyes twinkling.

"I'll make you a offer, Potter," I started causing him to raise an eyebrow in interest. "If you give you back my wand then I'll agree to help you." I proposed and held out an open palm for him to place my wand in if he knew what was good for him.

"You're not exactly in a position to bargain, are you?" He commented wisely, smirking, once again. "You're in my house territory and I have your only prayer of ever being able to take me on resting in my hand. You don't exactly have an option."

"You do realize that I could agree to help you just to get my wand back and then just change my mind immediately after?" I said while balling up my fists frustratedly.

"Fair enough, but you won't." He said confidently.

"Why so sure, Potter?" I asked and folded my arms across my chest while leaning back against the wall.

"Because you want to know just as bad as I do, and while you could investigate on your own, you know you wouldn't get half as far without me." He answered easily, and began doing tricks with my wand absentmindedly, letting it emit red and gold sparks, just to further infuriate me.

After I didn't answer he continued by saying, "I have ways of getting around the castle that you don't know of."

"I know about the cloak. It's not exactly a secret-"

"Everyone knows about the cloak," He cut me off, waving a dismissive hand in front of my face impatiently. "It still comes in handy but there's more. I know secret passageways that you'd never discover and different places that only my family knows of."

"You think I don't have my resources as well?" I replied cooly, annoyed that he immediately thought that he and his moronic family were the only ones that knew the hidden secrets of the castle.

"Why else would I ask to team up with you? It's obvious that I'm not doing it for your shining personality." He responded in a sardonic tone, but to my surprise, he held out my wand for me to finally take back. "Together we'd be unstoppable."

I considered it for a moment, I mean, _truly_ considered it. I figured I had nothing else to lose, with the exception of my dignity, and everything to gain.

"You have yourself a deal, Potter."

Hello all, nice to see you again. Thank you to those that have read the story and reviewed, it really means a lot especially with my scarce updating. You lot are the best and I'd love some more feedback and I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you have on THIS story. I'm interested to know who your favorite characters are so far so if you could drop a review than that would be more than fantastic. I LOVE YOU TO PIECES. xxxx


	3. Chapter 3

"So how much trouble are you guys in?" I asked Cyrus, Mitch, Silas, and Scorpius as we headed out of Transfiguration to go to dinner.

Last night, after I moronically decided to team up with James, he let me shoot off the signal that I promised so I didn't raise any suspicion. I went back and crashed in my bed immediately only to wake up and find out that they had been caught.

Apparently they accidently shot off one of the fireworks early and it shot straight into the Whomping Willow causing half of the tree to set on fire, which, as you can guess, made quite the ruckus. I, personally, thought that they did the school a generous favor but the professors that found them didn't seem to think so.

Hazel had instantly dove into the nearest bush and hid there until the morning while sobbing hysterically so she managed to evade getting in trouble, but the boys weren't so lucky. Harboring illegal fireworks, being so drunk that you can't even remember what your last name is, being out after hours, and blowing up one of the school's most famous trees doesn't exactly look good.

It was fortunate for the boys that Professor May, Head of the Slytherin house, was with McGonagall because she managed to save them from getting kicked off the quidditch team which would've drove Silas to sacrificing himself to the Giant Squid. Unfortunately for them, because McGonagall _was_ there, they couldn't fully escape punishment.

"Two months of detention and we each got twenty points taken." Silas muttered morosely.

No matter what his detention was for, he always managed to get the worst tasks assigned to him. In third year, after he and Mitch got caught with porno magazines shoved into their bags, he had to scrub all of the bed pans in the hospital wing while there was a nasty stomach bug going around that resulted in half the school having explosive diarrhea. It was a bit too much for a thirteen year old to handle, to say the least, and it resulted in him crying underneath one of the beds for three hours.

"Would've been more, but lovely Lucille wants to make sweet love to us all night long so she did a bit of ass kissing to McGonagall and was able to convince her to loosen up a bit." Mitch said with a grin, fist bumping Cyrus and causing me to roll my eyes.

Lucille May was probably the nicest lady you could ever imagine, bloody brilliant at Potions, and absolutely gorgeous. She had wisps of dark brown hair down to her ass and these intense brown eyes that practically pierced into your soul not to mention a killer body for someone in their early thirties so pretty much all the guys wanted her. It was rumored that during her first year teaching she and a student were caught in a very compromising position but although it was never exactly proven true, now every bloke in the school thought they had a chance with her.

"You're repugnant." Hazel told him, shaking her head with a disgusted grimace attached to her face. "Why would someone like Professor May ever want to get with you?"

"Trust me, Hazel dearest, I can sense it." Mitch said confidently, patting Hazel on the head patronizingly making her narrow her light green eyes dangerously.

"Just like you could sense that Annabelle Fitzpatrick wanted you in fourth year?" I questioned with a smirk, causing Mitch's mouth to set in a hard line and for everyone else to laugh. He probably would've punched me had I not been lucky and been born a girl.

Annabelle was finishing up her seventh year at Hogwarts when we were fourteen and Mitch was fully convinced that she wanted to steal his virginity that he was desperate to lose. Annabelle was Head Girl, captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team, and straight up beautiful. As it turns out though, the only reason why Annabelle paid so much attention to him was because she wanted his older sister, Tess, not him. The pair are now happily engaged but Mitch never really got over it, especially because he ended up losing his v-card to a girl named Bertha who now has green hair, a child, and at least twenty five piercings on her face alone. In his defense, she was fairly normal back when they shagged except for the fact that her name was indeed Bertha.

"This is different." He insisted irritably as we entered the Great Hall and took our usual places at the Slytherin table. "She sends me signals."

"What like giving you P's and D's on all of your essays last year?" Scorpius asked, chuckling as he spooned some mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Yeah mate, newsflash, but you're just really shit at Potions." Cyrus said with a mouth stuffed full of roast beef.

"Think what you want, but I'm telling you that by the time we graduate, Lucille will have professed her undying love for me in the form of hot sex that lasts until morning." He said, pointing his fork at us with every word, causing little bits of food to hit us in the face.

I snorted into my soup at that as did Hazel, but she added to it by gagging a little bit, which I thought added a nice dramatic effect. The boys, on the other hand, merely looked interested. "Care to make a friendly wager on that statement, Mitchy?" Silas asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If I'm right, you lot all have to pay me a hundred galleons each." Mitch proposed with an easy grin.

"Alright, but if we're right then you have to run through the Great Hall naked and shake your ass right in front of McGonagall." Cyrus told him with an evil smile.

"I want no part of this." Hazel said instantly and submerged herself back into her eating.

"You act as if that would be a punishment for him." Scorpius laughed.

"Fair enough, but it would amuse me greatly."

"You just want to see me naked, Cy." Mitch said and blew kissy faces at his best friend.

"I've seen you naked plenty of times, and trust me, it's not a pretty sight." Cyrus responded easily and flicked a pea at Mitch's face.

"Piss off, you know you'd kill to have my abs. Either way, I'm about to become a rich ass motherfucker." Mitch said in a self satisfied way.

"Your dad's the owner of one of the most successful magic restaurants chains in the UK and your mum comes from one of the oldest money pureblood families in the world." Scorpius pointed out with a roll of his striking silver eyes. "You're already rich."

"Says the kid that got a total of three broomsticks for Christmas last year and all of which were brand new." Mitch shot back and punched him playfully on the arm.

"I like to have my options and my parents recognize that." Scorpius responded nonchalantly and added a small shrug.

This was typical for Slytherins. The majority of the house grew up in old pureblood families that came with loaded trust funds or new money families whose parents just happened to be incredibly ambitious and very generous when it came to just handing out galleons to their children.

Scorpius' parents, Silas' mum, and Mitch's mum were all old money. Cyrus and I were both new money. Cyrus' dad used to play professional quidditch for a good twenty years and his mum is a high end fashion designer for witches. Pretty much anybody who was anyone wore her designs which cost nearly 10,000 galleons for a simple robe. My dad was just recently made head of St. Mungo's and basically ran the place so, needless to say, we were all fairly well off.

Hazel, on the other hand, lived in a pretty house in Godric's Hollow with her little brother and sister (twins, one in Hufflepuff and the other in Gryffindor) as well as her parents. Her dad worked at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Transportation and her mum was a Healer's assistant. They weren't well off by any means, but they were comfortable.

I think the boys and I would all agree that we'd trade all of our galleons, sickles, and knuts to have her life. Her family was so put together while all of ours were so broken.

There's Silas and me, for starters. He never even met his dad while mine worked almost constantly. Not to mention our mum's. I didn't have a clue where mine was and I haven't heard from her in ages meanwhile his spends all of her time either showering our irritating half sister, Ava, with presents or at the spa.

Then there's Mitch, whose parents basically lived in a loveless marriage and were only still together for image. Mitch didn't like to talk about it but there was a reason why he always stayed at one of our houses for Christmas and the summer.

Cyrus' parents divorced when he was twelve after his dad got caught in a cheating scandal...with another man. It was front page of the Daily Prophet for two weeks straight. His mum got her revenge though by dating every amazingly attractive eligible bachelor in England. This, of course, didn't exactly make for the happy family picture that Cyrus always dreamed of.

Scorpius' parents were still together and happy with their relationship, but they lived in constant scrutiny of the media from uncle Draco's past. They've learned to live with it, but it had to be shitty getting constantly ostracized by the entire wizarding community.

"Fuck, we're going to be late for detention." Silas said suddenly with a mouth full of food after a quick glance at his watch. All of the boys shoved another bite into their mouths, muttered quick goodbyes, and hastily fled the Great Hall after him.

Hazel and I packed up our stuff shortly after. "Do you want to go to the library to get started on our essays?" She asked, looking hopeful.

Truthfully, I didn't, but Hazel's innocently delicate face always made me want to be a better person... For about twenty minutes, at least. "Sure," I agreed with a sigh. "But I'm going to need to borrow that quill I lent you earlier."

Her face lit up excitedly, as it always did when the prospect of doing homework with someone other than herself became a possibility, and she began rummaging through her bag. Her brow furrowed confusedly. "Have you seen my Transfiguration book?" When I shook my head, she huffed to herself. "I must've left it back in the classroom. Meet me in the library?"

When I nodded, she ran off and I set off in the direction of Hazel's chamber of happiness only to be grabbed from behind and shoved into a broom closet. Before I even had a chance to scream, a wand light came on and James Potter appeared before me, as if out of thin air.

"You _really_ need to stop doing that." I told him, putting a hand over the heart that was practically trying to jump out of my chest as an effect from being scared shitless.

"I found something." He said, choosing to ignore the fact that he just all but kidnapped me. He thrust a piece of paper into my hand and I tossed him a confused look before reading what it said.

 _Dear S,_

 _I wouldn't worry about the train incident. My family can't possibly know anything...we've covered our tracks well enough. My guess is that they were just bluffing. I think we'll be fine. We're going to need to be more careful this year when we_

It was only part of the letter. Rose must've gotten sidetracked while writing it and saved the rest for later. "Where did you even find this?" I asked while skimming over it a few more times. It had only been a day and he already discovered major gold while I was headed off to do bloody essays.

"I nicked it out of Rosie's nightstand after I searched her dormitory." He responded, not at all sheepish in any way, and I looked up at him with an amused expression.

"You have a lot of free time on your hands, don't you, Potter?"

"To hell if a Malfoy ever enters my family. I'm going to nip this shit in the butt before it even starts." He said in a determined voice.

"Fair enough, but isn't she going to notice that her half written letter is gone?"

"Have a little faith, Moseley." He replied with a grin. "That's just a duplicate. The real one is still there when she goes back to finish."

"How does that help us in any way though? Don't we want the letters to stop? What's the point of knowing what they say if we're not going to do anything about it?" I questioned, folding the letter back up, deeming it useless.

"You underestimate me," He said with a smirk and after I shot him a slightly puzzled and annoyed look, he elaborated further. "I put a charm on the other letter, tracking it, so we'll know when she sends it. We'll then intercept it before before it ever reaches Malfoy."

I had to admit that I was surprised that he actually had brains. "Impressed?" He asked in an arrogant tone, as if reading my mind.

"Hardly." I lied, handing the letter back to him.

"Well, it's more than your ass has done so far," He said, making a fair point. "I have something for you." He muttered in a flat tone as he started fishing around in his pockets.

He tossed me whatever it was and I realized, after a quick inspection, that it was just a galleon. "For me? Potter, you shouldn't have!" I said with fake enthusiasm and placed a hand on my heart as if flattered which caused him to roll his eyes. I had no fucking clue what I was supposed to do with it. I could buy him a nice new quill or, you know, a personality to make up for the on he severely lacked.

"It's a way for us to communicate without owls, dipshit." He said shortly and then went into explanation when he saw my dumbfounded expression. "My parents, aunts, and uncles used them when they formed Dumbledore's Army during the second war so they could find out when their next meeting was. They could change the time on the coin and, to anybody else, it would look like just a typical galleon. I'll have an identical one to yours so if need me than you can change the time and place on yours and it'll work on mine."

I examined it between my fingers, not noticing any difference between it and what a real one would look like. Once again, I found that James actually knew what the hell he was doing.

"I guess you would've known this if your parents had fought for Dumbledore instead of Voldemort, right?" He said in a suddenly cold tone, assuming that because I was from a generation of Slytherins, that automatically meant that my family was full of Death Eaters.

"My parents actually did their best to stay out of the war." I snapped immediately, shooting him a hard glare.

"How very brave of them." He responded roughly with his gold eyes meeting my caramel ones and I felt a strong surge of hatred for him.

Ever since the war, things had been like this. The prejudices had been flipped and instead of muggleborns being on blast, it was now purebloods. Everybody now just figures that if you have a pureblood last name then you automatically stand for everything that Voldemort did and it's shit because every sane person out there knows that he was off his fucking rocker.

"Not everybody's daddy can be savior of the wizarding world." I shot back, feeling my fists clench. A sudden burst of intense heat burned the inside of my hand and I hissed in pain and dropped the galleon, realizing that it was the source. "What the hell?"

"It heats up when I change the time and place." He said with a shit eating grin and picked up the devil coin that now read: ' _Broom closet. Now._ ' In very tiny letters at the bottom. "Looks like it works."

"Yeah, no shit it works." I muttered through gritted teeth and looked down at my palm which was blistering where I had just been holding the coin. I had a very strong feeling that he might have charmed mine go a bit hotter than normal. I highly doubted that when I changed the time and place of his that it would sear off parts of his skin.

Still, I couldn't fully complain considering he'd already done three semi helpful things for the cause of destroying any chance of Scorpius and Rose's happiness as a possible future couple in the matter of less than a day while I sat on my ass. Then it came to me. "Silas, Cyrus, Mitch, and Scorpius are all in detention right now." I said, mostly to myself, but considering that James was standing less than two feet away from me, it was to him as well.

"Your point being?" He asked lazily as if the information meant nothing to him. I take back what I said earlier about him having brains considering right now he was as daft as a mountain troll.

"My point being that their room is very much empty and for all we know, Scorpius could have valuable information hidden that we could use to our advantage."

"What the hell are we waiting for?" He asked, looking excited. "Let's get a move on."

Sneaking James into the Slytherin common room was easier than I expected. His invisibility cloak really was brilliant and nobody really noticed anything weird about me heading to the boy's side instead of the girl's considering I spent most of my free time there.

I didn't exactly get along with any of the girls in my house. Hazel and one of our other roommates, Elizabeth Brooks, or as she likes to be called, Izzy, were the only exceptions.

Izzy, though, is a bit too quirky for my taste and rarely talks about anything other than quidditch. The only person I've ever met that is as obsessed as her is Silas. You'd think the two would get along swimmingly but the pair have hated each other since Silas got made captain over her two years ago. Apparently she's been a right pain in the ass for him ever since but she's too incredible of a Chaser to let go.

The only reason that she doesn't have a certain distaste for me is because she doesn't exactly have any friends except for Ravenclaws, Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, and other than them, she pretty much lives in her own little world.

The rest of the girls in my house don't like me because of the she-devil herself that goes by the name of Cassie Sparks and her faithful sidekick Astrid Hale. The pair made a personal vendetta against me when they found out that I snogged Mitch during a game of spin the bottle in third year. Apparently Cassie had a crush on him at the time and they failed to realize that I was _forced_ to kiss him, but it was still considered ultimate betrayal.

Their hatred for me only intensified when they found out that I was hooking up with Cyrus who had been Cassie's first 'love' back in fifth year when they dated for a total of three months. The two managed to convince the entirety of the girls portion of my house that I was evil and a slag that slept with anything that moves. And, of course, any words that were uttered out of Cassie's mouth were instantly believed by the naive and idiotic prepubescent girls that practically worshiped the ground she walked on.

Hazel and I ignored them for the most part considering they wouldn't dare ever try to cross us with anything other than words because they knew that we could kick the living shit out of them if we wanted.

My reputation still stood on the girl's side even though they, along with the rest of the school, failed to realize that I had only slept with a total of two blokes in my entire life, which is why I just prefered to hang out on the guy's side.

Less death glares, drama, and aligning menstrual cycles. More weed, alcohol, and abs.

When we reached the 7th Year boy's dorm, I took a quick peek and found that the coast was clear, and stepped inside. After I shut the door half a second later, James appeared to my right, surprising me, even though I knew that he had been there.

"Isn't Malfoy in his sixth year?" James asked, sounding confused.

"Technically." I responded shortly as I walked to the closet and pulled out the trunk labeled _SHM_ and dragged it to the middle of the floor. I wanted to get this whole thing over with as fast as possible. I felt like I was betraying some sort of sacred Slytherin oath by bringing a Gryffindor into our home.

"Which bed is Malfoy's?" James asked, and without looking up I pointed to the bed in the far corner.

I popped open the latch on Scorpius' trunk and almost laughed at how everything was organized perfectly. It was classic of him to not have a single article of clothing out of place. I carefully avoided messing them up too much and began removing the first layer of shirts from the top.

I glanced up to see what James was up to and saw him riffling through a notebook next to Silas' bed which was labeled _Playbook_. I whipped my wand out instantly and summoned it to me so fast that even James didn't see it coming. He looked up at me with a startled expression, clearly taken off guard. "You're supposed to be helping me, asswipe." I snapped with a hard glare on my face, keeping my wand pointed at his chest. "Not trying to steal quidditch secrets."

"As if I need your step brothers predictable plays to help me win." He retorted. "If I recall, we won the cup against him for the past two years."

I rolled my eyes, but was satisfied when I saw him abandon Silas' drawer and begin looking through Scorpius' bedside table. I went back to pawing through his trunk, but it wasn't until I got to the bottom, with my hope nearly abandoned, that I found a tiny black leather box wrapped in a little white ribbon. I delicately pulled it off and gasped when I saw what was inside.

They were quite possibly the most gorgeous pair of earrings I had ever seen...Round, sparkling rubies encrusted with two rows of spectacular, shimmering diamonds. They were the type of earrings that would match perfectly with a Gryffindor uniform.

"Potter?" I called, not taking my eyes off of the jewels.

"Hmm?" He said, distractedly and I turned to see him looking through the books that were in Scorpius' drawer, seeming frustrated that he wasn't finding anything.

"Does Rose have a birthday coming up, by any chance?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah, her seventeenth is in less than two weeks." James responded with his eyebrows furrowed, confused as to why I was asking. "Why?"

"Because I think I found something."

I tossed him the box and his eyes widened. "What do we do?" He questioned immediately and threw the box back to me.

"What do you mean what do we do? Why do I have to come up with the plan?" I demanded and launched it back at him, not wanted to be responsible for figuring out the next step.

A second later, it was fired straight back into my reluctant hands. "Because you're supposed to be the conniving little snake. This is what you do." He responded as if the answer was clear. "You Slytherin lot are evil and know what to do in situations like this."

He acted as if all my house did in our free time was devise plans to destroy people for fun. Lucky for him, an idea hatched suddenly in my head.

"Although I don't appreciate the stereotype," I started and looked down at the box, thinking for a moment. "Does Rose have any enemies or somebody that she really hates?"

"She's Rose Weasley. She's incapable of hatred." He said fondly as he crossed the distance between the two of us and sat next to me.

"Someone then that she's always competed with or something?"

James kind of stared at the ground and ran his hands through his mop of messy black hair, thinking about it for a moment, before saying, "Well there's Ellie Markes, the only person besides Malfoy that's ever beat her on an exam."

"Okay, that's perfect." I smirked and further mentally formulated the plan. "We're going to take these and-"

"Take them?" He interrupted. "You mean steal them? They probably cost, what? A few thousand galleons?"

"Don't think of it as stealing. Think of it as temporarily borrowing." I replied easily adding in a shrug. "Anyway, don't wuss out on me, Potter. We're going to temporarily borrow them and send them to Ellie from Scorpius. If Ellie and Rose have always been competing then it's likely that Ellie will brag about the fact that Scorpius is sending her presents."

He considered it for a minute before a sly smirk appeared across his face. "I like it, but you know what I think would step it up just a notch?"

"What?" I asked cautiously, nervous at what that somehow deviously attractive smirk meant.

"Love potion." He stated simply.

"Love potion." I repeated with a grin.

This was either going to be the most brilliant idea ever thought of since the invention of cookie dough ice cream or it was going to bring us down in flames. Either way, I couldn't give two shits.

Hello loves, look at me with the quick updates. Amazing, I know. I think next I'm going to try and work on Enemies with Benefits...We'll see how that goes.

What did you think though? Any ideas of what you think is going to happen in the next chapter? I'm curious to see your predictions. Please be even more incredible than you already are and leave me a review. They really do make my day and I promise to respond to them all for this story.

You guys all rock. Xx


	4. Chapter 4

"Why the hell does Walker have an ungodly amount of Acid Pops tucked in his bedside table?" I glanced up from my business of dragging Scorpius' trunk from the closet to see James pointing to Mitch's drawer that I knew contained at least three dozen acid pops in a variety of flavors.

You see, Silas has this weird habit of waking up half asleep in the middle of the night with a sweet tooth. He basically sleepwalks and starts rummaging through everyone's stuff until he finds candy. This has been going on for nearly six years now but it wasn't until last year that the rest of the boys got sick of it and tried to sabotage their friend. Scorpius has every disgusting flavor of Bertie Bott's there is and Cyrus has at least four pounds Cockroach Clusters shoved in his drawer.

Silas doesn't even realize anything off until he wakes up in the morning with a hole burnt through his tongue, a horrifying taste in his mouth, and a terrible stomachache. We Slytherins believe that tough love is the answer to every situation.

"Why the hell did you insist on coming with me if you're not even going to help?" I countered irritably, not answering his question, as I popped open the latches and flopped to the floor.

"Oh you mean with your job of moving a few shirts around to get the earrings?" He inquired with a roll of his eyes and roughly shut the drawer. "I didn't realize that such a small task required two people, but I guess for you it does."

I shot a glare in his direction causing him to smirk as he sat down on the edge of Mitch's bed. It was the night before the plan that we now called 'The Ellie Project' because so much of ruining Scorpius and Rose's happiness together involved the poor girl.

The boys had detention again and Hazel had a massive amount of Ancient Runes homework that she was busying herself in the library with so we figured tonight would be the perfect night to steal the earrings to complete our plan for the next day.

James already made the love potion using a bit of Ellie's hair that he found in her dorm and I was able to con my favorite house elf, Georgie, into spiking it into Scorpius' morning bowl of oatmeal. Getting Georgie to do anything for me was quite simple. All I have to do is slip him a few butterbeers when no one is watching and it's like he's my personal slave. I think the little guy has a drinking problem, but he's too useful to me to go seek him help.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly, but as this was my life, something, of course, had to go wrong. As I got to the bottom where the earrings had been exactly three days ago, I realized that all that was there were his green and silver striped ties. "We might have a problem," I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear me.

"What kind of problem?" James asked absentmindedly as he was keeping himself entertained by shooting blue and orange sparks out of his wand.

"The earrings are gone." I sighed frustratedly, rubbing my temples, after triple checking the trunk.

"What do you mean they're gone?" He questioned moronically and the sparks he was making fizzled out.

"How can I explain it differently to you?" I huffed, raising an eyebrow at his stupidity. "The earrings are gone, as in, they aren't here."

"Nice going, Moseley." He commented sardonically. "You've managed to screw up over fifty percent of The Ellie Project before it was even set into motion. Very nice."

"Oh, so this is somehow _my_ fault?" I snapped back, jumping to my feet, but he held up a finger to silence me.

"Footsteps," He muttered in barely a whisper and my eyes widened as I heard them getting closer. I whipped around and sent all of Scorpius' clothes flying back into his trunk and back into its rightful place. Then I realized that James bloody Potter was still standing beside me and my heart nearly failed when I considered what would happened if any one of my friends were to walk through the door.

They'd all react badly to say the least but Silas would probably shit himself twice and then be fully convinced that James kidnapped me into showing him all of Slytherin's quidditch secrets.

"Why in the fuck are you just standing there? Hide!" I ordered and frantically tried pushing him to the closet.

James rolled his eyes and threw a smirk on his face. "I have an invisibility cloak for a reason." He reminded and threw it on a split second before the door opened to reveal a tired looking Cyrus.

He seemed highly taken aback to see me standing, seemingly alone, in the middle of his dorm with no apparent reason for being there.

"What's up?" I tried feebly, trying to seem at least somewhat casual and I watched as he closed the door behind him. My stomach dropped when I realized that that had been James' only hope of sneaking out of the room without being noticed.

"Mose? What are you doing here?" He asked in a puzzled tone and loosened his tie as he always did after he got back to his dorm after a long night.

To that, I didn't have a response and this was one of the first times in my life that I literally had no idea how I was going to pull something out of my ass and bullshit my way out of this one, especially because the little bastard could typically see right through me.

"Well," I began and an idea suddenly sparked in my head involving one of the things that Cyrus would never question too in depth when it came to me. "I figured Silas wouldn't be back from detention for a while and what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

A little smile began to form at the corner of his lips as he seemed to be picking up what I wasn't even sure I was putting down and, within a second, he had crossed the distance between us and was tugging at my waist to pull me to him. His mouth met mine and I found myself returning the kiss because a) Cyrus was damn good at snogging and he didn't seem to lose any of his talent between when we cut things off last year and now, and b) because what the hell else was I supposed to do?

I internally started freaking out, wishing that there was some way that James was able to escape without drawing attention to himself but it's not like Cyrus wouldn't notice if the door was suddenly opened by no one. I kept trying to brainstorm ways to get out of the situation that I just landed myself in, but as he pushed me back toward his bed, I felt my mind grow fuzzier from the kiss and I knew I was in deep shit.

This is what I had come to in my life. Practically selling my body and dignity to my former fuck buddy as a way to cover my ass from getting caught snooping in my step-cousin's things with none other than James Potter. My dad would be so proud.

I felt the back of my knees hit the bed and Cyrus' lips left my mouth to work on my neck instead while his hands found their way underneath my shirt. I stupidly did nothing to stop him and I knew I was about to lose myself. As soon as I was about to let out a moan as I felt him kiss the sensitive spot just below my ear, a flash of intense heat from the coin burned through the back pocket of my shorts.

I came to my senses, realizing what I was doing and who was still in the room, and immediately shoved Cyrus off of me causing a confused look to spread across his face. "What's wrong?" He asked in a husky tone that made me even more attracted to him. His light brown hair was a mess from my hands running through it and he watched as I sprang up from the bed, most likely looking mental.

"I think Silas is coming up," I lied as I adjusted my shirt that he had managed to push up to reveal part of my deep crimson bra, blushing deeply.

He instantly knew something was off because I never blushed or acted flustered in anyway. It just didn't happen. "He has to clean all of the boy's toilets in the school and he was only on the second floor when I left him. He won't be back for-"

"He's coming, trust me. We have sibling telepathy." I invented wildly and avoided looking at his bright blue eyes that were most likely trying to read me like a book.

"You're not even actually related!" He called after me but I ignored him as I threw open the door widely, making sure James would be able to sneak out behind me.

"Not one word, Potter," I hissed under my breath as I all but flew from the room. The second we were out of Cyrus' earshot, he busted up with the laughter that he had probably been holding in for the last ten minutes and I felt my jaw clench as I resisted the urge to avada kedavra him on the spot.

He didn't stop laughing even when we emerged in the common room, making it look like I was being followed by a particularly amused, invisible ghost. I heard Cassie make some snide comment to Astrid about me coming from the boy's side and I shot her a murderous glare that shut even her up.

As soon as we were out in corridor, I snatched the invisibility cloak off of James and shoved him behind an old fraying tapestry. I had a grip of the front of the front of his army green tee shirt in one of my hands and my wand in the other as I pushed him roughly against the wall.

Although he looked amused, he wasn't laughing anymore, but I should have realized that a laughing James Potter was better than a speaking James Potter. Actually, come to think of it, anything, including the image of Filch and Madam Pince doing it on a stack of books was better than a speaking James Potter. Trust me, it's been seen. A second year is now in therapy because of it but he managed to snap a few pictures and it's not a pretty sight.

A sly grin spread itself on James' face as he looked down and saw the way I was basically pressed against his body. "First Palmer and now me? Damn, Moseley, you certainly are getting around today, but I hate to break it to you, I'm not interested."

"You're repugnant," I snapped, pushing him backward so his head hit the wall which unfortunately didn't cause him to cry out in pain like I had hoped.

"Hey, I'm not the one that was trying to force live pornography on others." He replied with the smirk of his that made me want to simultaneously light myself on fire and snog the life out of him at the same time. 

"Are you mental?" I exclaimed, shoving him again and then taking a step away from him. "I wasn't going to have sex with him."

"Could've had me fooled," He drawled in a tone that was attempting to sound bored. "You didn't exactly push him away, now did you?"

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" I questioned, cocking my head to the side, just trying to piss him off at this point.

"Don't make me laugh, Moseley." He scoffed predictably with a roll of his eyes. "If I wanted to be the one fucking you, I would be."

His answer took me by surprise as well as angered me at how cocky he was which caused me to raise an eyebrow and retort with, "Why so sure, Potter?"

He chose not to answer and instead took a step forward so that he was so close that I could count the light amount of freckles that were dusted on his nose if I wanted to. I didn't break eye contact with him even when I watched as he started to lean in while I did nothing to stop him. My breath caught in my throat as the beating in my chest accelerated to a ridiculous pace.

"Let's just say I have my reasons." He whispered with his lips less than an inch away from my own before pulling the tapestry back and strutting down the corridor with a certain arrogant spring in his step.

The bastard knew he was one hundred percent right and I hated him for it.

I woke up the next morning to the unpleasant surprise of Paula, Hazel's demon cat that was the bane of my existence, jumping on my face. "Fucking shit," I yelped and roughly threw her fat body off of me causing her land at the end of my bed, already in the position to spring again.

She hissed menacingly with her evil yellow eyes staring at me with the deepest loathing and I hissed back. We had a complicated relationship, Paula and me, and more mornings than you'd think started off like this. She's despised me since my total boss of an owl, Tyrion, tried to carry her away and eat her when was only a kitten. Paula then blamed Tyrion's actions on me and responded by puking in my shoes whenever she got the chance causing me to reciprocate her hatred.

She was getting ready to strike at my face again but this time I saw her claws out in preparation to stick in my eye sockets. I pounced forward and grabbed her around the middle before she could even blink. She started hissing again, wriggling in my hands, and clawing at the air, desperate to break free.

I did what always did which was toss her in the shower, turn on the water, and then run out and slam the door before she came charging at me trying to bite off my ankles. Astrid and Cassie had already left for breakfast and Izzy stirred slightly from her awkward sleeping position but immediately went back to sleep with a soft snore.

Hazel walked into the room, already dressed and in her uniform, with her arms full of books from her early morning study session at the library with her dark brown hair back in a pretty braid. She knew as soon as she saw the shut bathroom door and the self satisfied grin on my face.

She gave a sigh, letting her books fall onto her bed, and shot me a look as she opened up the bathroom door to unleash the evil behind it. Paula emerged and began mewing innocently like the little bint that she is and started rubbing her wet body against her owner's ankles. Hazel bent down, cooing slightly, to pick her up and Paula purred satisfiedly once she was in her arms. "I don't understand what you have against her. She's so sweet."

I watched as the devil spawn nuzzled deeper into my best friend. "That's just what she wants you to think," I insisted earnestly causing Hazel to roll her eyes.

"Are you ready for breakfast?" She asked, gently putting Paula back down on the floor.

"Do I look like I'm ready?" I replied dully, gesturing to the usual outfit that I typically fell asleep in which was nothing but my knickers and one of the boys' old quidditch shirts that I managed to steal.

"Well hurry up, the guys are waiting downstairs," She ordered, tossing my clothes at me so they smacked me in the face, probably still bitter at the fact that I tried trapping her cat in the bathroom.

It suddenly hit me though that it was the morning of the final part of The Ellie Project and I threw on my uniform at a record pace so I could follow Hazel down to the common room where the boys were lounging across the best armchairs by the fire.

"Bloody hell, finally," Silas sighed in relief, jumping up in excitement.

My step brother gets excited over the simple things in life. Quidditch, the thought of naked girls, and breakfast foods are among them.

"We would've been down sooner but Mose decided that trying to murder my cat was more important than being on time." Hazel explained rather inaccurately, shooting me a very pointed look that confirmed my suspicions that she was not entirely happy with me.

"Oh please," I snorted, rolling my eyes. "She had it coming."

"Well maybe I should sneak into the Owlery after breakfast and start ripping off Tyrion's feathers to see how he'd like it," She barked and I strongly contemplated strangling her.

Typically Hazel and I got on beautifully but neither of us liked when people fucked with our pets and we unfortunately both hated each other's pets so it caused a riff every so often in our friendship.

I was about to retort with something along the lines of 'if you ever touch my owl then I'll feed your cat to the giant squid and laugh maliciously as I do so' but Mitch cut across by saying, "Now, now, ladies, let's not fight."

He threw an arm around each of us and pulled us into him from either side with the corners of his lips turned up in a wicked manner. "Unless, of course, you're wearing bikinis and there is mud involved." He suggested causing the rest of the boys to laugh with the exception of Silas while Hazel and I both ripped his arms off of us.

"In your dreams, Walker." I laughed and then, not so lightly, punched him on the arm.

"I'm not opposed to jello either." Mitch replied easily with a grin.

"I find it incredible that you've never had the shit slapped out of you before," Hazel muttered, shaking her head, as she made her way out of the common room.

"Hazel, dear, it really does wound me when you pretend that you hate me," Mitch called after her, making her pause in the doorway to turn around and raise an eyebrow.

"Who says I'm pretending?" She countered but with a mischievous smirk that got Mitch to crack a smile and go running after her.

"I'm just waiting for the day that she finally admits that she's in love with him." Scorpius sighed in a bored tone as we followed sluggishly behind.

"He needs to pull his head out of his ass first." Cyrus mumbled in agreement.

"Amen to that," Silas and I muttered in unison.

The Hazel/Mitch story was a frustrating one. Basically, Hazel has never admitted to even thinking he's attractive (which he is) but it's obvious to anyone with eyes (pretty much Silas, Cyrus, Scorpius, and me) that she's had a massive crush on him since third year. We never tried to interfere, which is very uncharacteristic of us, because we know that she'll deny it, go all red, and then refuse to be in the same room as him for the rest of her life.

Mitch also poses a problem in the whole situation because, well, he's a straight up dumbass. He doesn't really have the qualities Hazel wants in a boyfriend yet she inexplicably seems to have strange infatuation with him that he doesn't realize at all. While Mitch is somehow one of the best in our year, with the exception of Potions, he is probably the daftest kid I've ever met. He's not exactly the 'relationship' type of guy and spends more time talking about the girls he's bedded than he does breathing. Hazel's not one to want to just sleep with him either because she's the only one out of us that's still a virgin.

Cyrus lost his virginity to me toward the end of fifth year, which is partially why Cassie hates me so much. She had been trying to have sex with him the entire time they were dating but he wouldn't give it up.

Mitch lost his to the aforementioned Bertha which he doesn't like to discuss for good reason.

Scorpius had sex for the first time with one of my cousins, which is weird considering I think of him as family. Annie, who graduated a couple years ago, was staying at my house for a few weeks while her parents were out of town during the summer after his fourth year. Scorpius came by for a simple, jolly visit and left a new man. Looking back, Annie was a going into her seventh year at the time so it's actually pretty fucking creepy that she slept with someone two years younger than her.

Silas was the only one out of us that was in an actual relationship when he gave up his innocence during the beginning of sixth year. It was with his first and only girlfriend, Cora Martin. She was a Hufflepuff, which was something we teased him endlessly for although the boys eventually stopped when they found out he was getting laid consistently. Cora was sweet enough but once when she was drunk she let it slip that secretly hated quidditch. Silas, being Silas, ended things the next day.

By the time we reached the Great Hall, Mitch and Hazel were already in our normal spot at the Slytherin table. Hazel was cracking up at something Mitch said which caused me to exchange knowing, smirk-filled looks with the rest of the guys.

I chose my seat carefully and settled down at the spot directly across from Scorpius where I could see the Gryffindor table behind him. My eyes found James and I saw that he was discretely looking in our direction. He gave a slight, subtle nod to show that everything was going according to plan so far.

It was actually quite beautiful that Scorpius is literally the only person in Hogwarts that enjoyed the house elves' repulsive excuse for oatmeal because otherwise we'd have to worry about making half the school fall in love with Ellie Markes.

"Silas, what the hell is all over your hands?" Hazel gasped, noticing that his palms were a shocking shade of bright blue when he reached across her to pour himself some coffee.

"It's the fucking cleaning shit for the toilets." Silas responded bitterly, adding five spoonfuls of sugar to his mug. "I think my hands are permanently stained."

"It looks like you helped wank off a Smurf," Mitch laughed mockingly causing me to snort into my tea in amusement and Silas to flick some of his scrambled egg across the table at him.

"Hey, you deserve to get made fun of after you got back at three in the morning and woke me up," Mitch reasoned and flicked the egg straight back which hit my brother right between the eyes.

"Wow Si, you didn't get done till three?" Cyrus commented in a voice that was almost _too_ suddenly interested. "Hear that Mose?" He added in a low voice causing my stomach to drop and I had a strong urge to take my fork that was currently stabbing a pancake and instead stab it through his thigh.

The thing about Cyrus was that he loved proving people wrong which was exactly what he was trying to do except that right now was simply not the time and place.

I saw Hazel raise an eyebrow suspiciously and after swallowing the bite of food that I was trying to digest, I managed to come up with a typical Jordan Moseley response and muttered nonchalantly with a shrug to Silas, "Sucks to suck."

"Thank you for the sympathy, darling sister," Silas grumbled sarcastically while tiredly rubbing his eyes.

I could feel Cyrus watching me but I was watching Scorpius. He was halfway through his bowl of oatmeal and his silver eyes, much to my satisfaction, were beginning to look a bit hazy.

He was being quiet, which isn't saying much considering he only talked when he deemed it necessary, but even for him it was off.

I barely registered anything that anyone was saying and instead studied his every move, waiting for something to happen. After he finished eating, he put down his spoon and just stared at the wall behind my head as if in a daze and I tried not to grin at how well the plan was going. His eyes looked completely clouded over and he suddenly stood up so quickly that he nearly knocked over his goblet of orange juice when his hips hit the table, taking everyone by surprise.

"Something wrong, Scorp?" Hazel questioned, looking up at him curiously and I pressed my lips together in a flat line to keep the smile off my face.

"I've made a mistake," He muttered almost robotically, more to himself than anyone, and then went charging out of the room.

"What the hell is the matter with him?" Cyrus asked, craning his neck to watch his retreating figure.

"He probably realized he forgot to add a punctuation mark on an essay," Silas snorted, adding in an eye roll, which the others deemed as a likely reason when it came to Scorpius. I, on the other hand, wanted to go watch as shit went down.

"I'm going to head to the loo." I stated abruptly and swung my school bag over my shoulder. "I'm feeling a bit sick. I'll see you lot in Charms."

"I hope you're not preggers. Morning sickness is a bitch, I hear." Mitch commented while popping a piece of sausage in his mouth as I got up from the table. He then clamped Cyrus on the back and said, "Congrats on fatherhood, buddy!"

This in turn caused Cyrus to nearly start choking on his fruit and for Silas to whack Mitch upside the head. "Oh fuck you," I growled at him and threw a slice of toast at his face before walking away.

"Don't blow chunks all over the hallway!" He called after me and I flicked him off behind my back, picking up the pace so I didn't get too far behind wherever Scorpius was going.

As soon as I stepped foot in the corridor, James appeared out of thin air from underneath his invisibility cloak and it was one of the first times that I wasn't taken by surprise by it. "He went this way," He said and took off in the direction that Scorpius was supposedly headed.

I felt almost giddy like a little kid on Christmas morning. The last diabolical plan that I had like this had involved peanut butter, one of Ava's partially evil nannies, and some vomit flavored Bertie Botts beans. Needless to say, it didn't exactly go how I wanted so I was a bit more than thrilled that The Ellie Project seemed to be going according to plan.

I ended up passing him in my excitement and he trailed closely behind but it wasn't until we got to the corridor that lead to the Gryffindor common room that we heard Scorpius' thudding footsteps ahead.

Without saying a word, James suddenly gripped my arm and pulled me to him so swiftly that I couldn't help but let out a surprised squeak. My back slammed into his chest and within a second he threw the cloak over our heads, making us completely invisible.

"Well move along then," He ordered in a low voice with his lips so close that I felt them brush against my ear. I felt a wave of fury hit me that I cured by slamming my foot down on his.

James hissed in pain which greatly satisfied me. "Give me a fucking warning next time," I all but snarled back at him but I shuffled forward nonetheless.

"As you wish, princess," He growled sarcastically and I could just imagine the eye roll that I was almost one hundred percent sure he was doing.

Scorpius came into view in front of us as we quickened our pace while Rose, as if on cue, came around the corner with a bag that was bulging full of books swung over her shoulder. Her eyes widened significantly when she saw my cousin practically running toward her with a most likely crazed look in his eyes.

"Scorpius, what are you-" Rose began, looking completely taken aback and she started glancing around her to see if anyone was around.

"I need the earrings back," He answered abruptly and slightly out of breath.

"Are you having some sort of fit?" She asked in a concerned voice that made me want to gag as she pressed the back of hand against his forehead to see if he had a temperature.

James must've shared my feelings on the matter because I could hear him make some soft retching sounds behind me.

"Rose, just stop!" Scorpius snapped, clearly exasperated, and swatted her hand away. She recoiled instantly and a hurt expression overtook her face.

"This is going better than expected," James muttered in my ear, sounding pleased with himself. While I was pleased too, the only thing I could suddenly focus on was how close were currently were. His unfairly muscular chest was pressed against my back so I could feel it every time he even took a breath. My brain started to think very dirty thoughts that involved what it would feel like to have a certain part of his male anatomy inside of me.

What? I'm a hormone filled teenage girl and he was James fucking Potter. Sue me.

I quickly banished the semi tempting idea out of my head and instead directed my attention back to Scorpius and Rose.

"S, what's going on?" Rose questioned, looking up at him with confused eyes as she tucked a lock of her strawberry hair behind her ear.

Scorpius, seeming very distracted, refused to even spare her a glance. His face still had that vague dreamy like look to it but his voice was void of all emotion when he told her, "There's someone else."

I didn't stop the massive grin that spread across my face when I saw Rose's suddenly furious expression. "What do you mean someone else?"

"I'm in love with someone else." Scorpius admitted with the dreaminess effect now seeping into the sound of his voice while his eyes almost completely clouded over. "He's my everything."

"Did he say he?" James croaked from behind me and my jaw literally dropped open because he most definitely said he.

" _He_?" Rose cried somewhat hysterically, but it was evident that she now was trying to hold back laughter. The daft girl was finally catching on that something was up and I was now a mixture of somewhat horrified and extremely confused because unless I was mistaken, Ellie was most definitely a girl.

Scorpius shot Rose a deeply annoyed look and Rose managed to regain composure. "I'm happy for you, S." She insisted earnestly, attempting just to go with it for his sake. "How did you meet him?"

"Well, I haven't actually met him yet," Scorpius explained, now excited in an almost giddy way as if he was a preteen girl talking about his schoolyard crush. "I was going to introduce myself but I didn't want to show up empty handed. That's why I need the earrings. I think he'll love them."

My poor friend was positively gushing at this point and Rose had this amused look on her face yet there was something soft about it as if she found everything that he was saying completely endearing and adorable.

It made me want to vomit but James and I could only watch in total horror as our semi brilliant plan fell to shit right in front of our eyes.

"How about I give you back the earrings _and_ introduce you to him?" She proposed and Scorpius' entire face lit up in pure happiness.

"You would do that for me?" He gasped, looking sincerely touched as if Rose was the best person on the bloody planet with the exception of the fucking mystery bloke that wasn't even supposed to exist.

Like Scorpius dresses nicely and enjoys soap operas more than the average bloke but he was in no way, shape, or form gay.

"Of course," Rose beamed while Scorpius attacked her with a tight, joyful hug that made James and I both grip our hair in frustration at how horribly The Ellie Project was going. After Scorpius let her go, she asked the question we had all been dying to know, "What's the lucky guy's name?"

"Jasper," Scorpius breathed, sounding like he was in daze.

"Ellie's _cat_?" Rose squeaked in both shock and complete and utter amusement.

James just kind of snorted but I couldn't tell if it was a bit of laughter or frustration. I, on the other hand, nearly choked on my own spit.

"Do you know him?" Scorpius asked, instantly perking up even more than he already was.

"Know him? I _live_ with him and he's an absolute catch. Let's go," She said in a very chippy voice with an earnest, pearly white smile that showed off both her dimples and made me grit my teeth together.

She won 'Best Smile' in Hogwarts' bullshit school newspaper and her smile was the reason that half the imbecilic blokes in our school were love with her.

Rose took his arm and led him down the corridor while Scorpius nervously fiddled with his hair, asking her if it looked okay and if she thought that Jasper would like it.

A split second after they turned the corner, I ripped the invisibility cloak off of our heads and immediately rounded on James. "What the fuck did you do?" I practically screeched, absolutely seething at how terribly the whole thing went.

"How was I supposed to know that it was cat hair in the brush?" He shrugged nonchalantly as if his mistake didn't screw up the entire thing and I wanted to suffocate him with my bare hands.

"You gave me so much shit for the earrings yet you basically just blew The Ellie Project to hell," I ranted furiously, shoving him backward causing him to stumble a bit and he had the audacity to _laugh_.

"Calm down, Moseley." He said patronizingly, adding in an eyeroll as if I was overreacting. "It's kind of funny when you think about it."

"Oh yeah, it's just down right hilarious." I scoffed sardonically, shooting him a glare that could kill an entire army of Death Eaters. "I'm sure they'll have a nice giggle fest about it later when they're fucking."

James looked highly taken aback by that and made a noise that resembled a choking animal. "You don't think that they are having sex, do you?" He questioned, suddenly incredibly concerned. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair as a sign of his worry and if I didn't currently despise him so much it would've made me even more attracted to him.

"He's Scorpius Malfoy," I pointed out duly. "Of course they are having sex."

"What the hell does that even mean?" He sputtered with his hands pressed anxiously against his head. It was the first time I had ever seen him even the least bit unhinged. He apparently didn't like the thought of his baby cousin slagging about.

"It means that Scorpius has an eight pack and a face that could cure cancer." I explained. "He would be able to convince a nun to get into bed with him."

Scorpius was in no way a man whore. He had standards and has only slept with two girls other than now most likely Rose but James looked like he might be sick and I took a certain pleasure in that so I let him continue to think that Scorpius was a womanizing monster.

"We have to break them up," James stated seriously as if that wasn't our plan all along.

"No shit, Sherlock, since you fucked up this plan." I huffed with just a touch of bitterness. He opened his mouth to argue with something most likely extremely stupid but I cut him off before he could start. "New method: We stalk."

He thought about it for a moment before giving me a slight nod of his head in consideration. "Go on."

"We don't let them out of our sight." I explained. "I don't like the thought of them hooking up any more than you do so we don't give them a chance. We follow them wherever they go and fuck shit up if they get too close to each other."

A smirk formed on his lips that told me that he liked the idea. "Let's bloody do it. What have we got to lose?"

A/N: Hiiiiiii, so this took a bit longer than expected and I apologize for that. For the record, I had like 4000 words of this typed for like months but then I just got really caught up with university starting and I just haven't had a ton of time to write. I hope the length of this made up for it because, if I'm not mistaken, it's the second longest chapter I've ever written. So yay.

What'd you guys think? Did you like it? Please let me know in a review because reviews are absolutely lovely. I have some of the next chapter done already and I love it to pieces already so I'm excited to get that done. SHIT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. Well sort of. Kind of. It's hard to describe. You'll just have to read to find out.

Okay rant over. I do have one question though? What do you lot think of Cyrus?


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing you recognize.

"All I'm saying is that you'd look badass with a nose ring."

"For the millionth time, Mose, I'm not going to get a nose ring," Hazel responded dryly, sighing slightly as this was a conversation that we've had many times.

"I don't just understand why," I whined back.

"If you want one so bad then you get one."

"Hell no," I answered shortly while roughly raking my fingers through Hazel's thick, dark brown hair causing her to wince. "I'd look trashy with a nose ring because over half of this school thinks I'm a slag whereas you have this whole cute and innocent thing going on that needs to change."

"Maybe I like being cute and innocent. It helps me get out of stuff." She insisted defensively and I rolled my eyes while I did a waterfall braid on the back of her head. I was always the one responsible for doing her hair and makeup when it came to parties and special occasions and tonight was a combination of the two.

It was the precious Rose Weasley's seventeenth birthday and her cousins were making sure it was a night that she'd never forget. The good thing, or bad thing depending on how you looked at it, about Hogwarts was that even though the school was bloody massive, we really didn't have that many students so everyone that was a fourth year and older got invited whenever there was a party. Unless, of course, it was a house specific party like a quidditch win celebration. Everyone got invited no matter if you were a Slytherin going to a Wotter party or a Wotter going to a Slytherin party.

"Like what?" I snorted with another eye roll. "You don't even do anything bad."

"I didn't get detention with all the boys, now did I?"

"You hid in a bush," I pointed out, causing her to frown because she knew I was right. I put the finishing touches on the braid and chucked her outfit for the night at her face. "Now strip," I ordered. "The boys are probably already irritated that we're running late."

Cassie and Astrid left ages ago unsurprisingly wearing matching stripper heels and pregamed to the point where they were tripping over each other on their way out. Even Izzy, who was most likely being dragged there by the Scamander twins, left about ten minutes ago in a quidditch tee shirt and athletic shorts. That was the reason why I had a little bit of respect for Izzy. She simply didn't give a shit.

"You're not dressed yet either," Hazel shot back but took off the oversized hoodie she was wearing anyway, leaving her in her predictably boring, matching nude bra and knicker set, careful not to screw up her hair in the process.

I ignored her and mused up my own hair in the mirror to make sure it still looked alright. I decided to wear it down in loose, messy curls and the fact that it was already in my face was irritating the hell out of me. I searched for a pin to hold a particularly annoying lock out of my face when a shriek came from Hazel's mouth causing me to jump and knock my elbow into the dresser.

"If this is the sight I'll be greeted with every time I come over here, maybe I'll stop by more often."

I looked up to see Mitch leaning against the doorframe with a shit eating grin on his face while Hazel hastily tried to cover her half naked body.

"Mitch, what the hell?" She practically squawked angrily with her face coloring into a vibrant red.

"Relax, Hazza," Mitch said in an indifferent tone. "If you were flashing me something I've never seen before then I'd throw a couple galleons at you."

She let out a small growl, stormed off to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her.

"Nice tits by the way," Mitch called after her and then proceeded to flop himself down on my bed.

"Can you not be a douche for five minutes?" I sighed as I pawed through my trunk to find the outfit I planned for the night which consisted of a pair of burgundy high waisted shorts and cream colored crop top.

"That would be highly uncharacteristic of me so I'm going to go with no," He responded with a smirk as he sat up and leaned his back against my bed post.

"What do you want?" I questioned shortly, knowing he wouldn't be here if he didn't have a purpose.

The guys rarely came over to our side because Silas couldn't stand Izzy, and Mitch and Cyrus attempted to avoid Cassie and Astrid at all costs. Plus Hazel and I were almost always over in their room so they didn't really have a need to venture over to the girl's side.

"Is this the kind of reception I get? Jesus, are you both on the rag or something?"

I shot him a very annoyed look to which he grinned. "Here, have some of this," He said and handed me his metal flask that had a picture of the Minister of Magic on it with 'I approve this beverage' written by his head. "Maybe after a few sips you'll won't find me so irritating."

"Doubtful, but I'll give it a shot." I snorted in slight amusement and took a few swigs because who am I to pass up free alcohol? It burned more than usual going down and I could help but wince and let out a small shiver. "Holy shit, is this muggle?"

"Yeah, it tastes like Satan's ass going down but it fucks you up faster," He explained eloquently.

"Cheers to that," I smirked and gulped a bit more down before tossing it back to him.

"So speaking of Silas, Scorpius, and Cyrus," Mitch began and I interrupted him with a raised eyebrow as I took the seat on the opposite end of my bed at the headboard.

"We weren't speaking of Silas, Scorpius, and Cyrus…"

"Ah, but we are now, aren't we?" He pointed out with a tilt of his head and a grin that caused me to roll my eyes. "They sent me to tell you both to hurry your pretty little asses up so we can get moving."

"Somehow I find that highly doubtful."

"And why's that?" He inquired innocently while playing with the silk green hangings on my bed.

"Because I know those three boys better than anyone." I answered confidently. "Silas is content wherever he is when he drinks and, knowing him, he's probably already pre-gamed with at least three shots so he's in no rush to go. Scorpius is probably still fucking with his hair because he's a pansy. And Cyrus can't drink until after he smokes so he's probably comfortably lounging on his bed, smoking a joint. Am I right or am I right?"

"Okay, okay _I_ want to get moving." He admitted impatiently. "I'm trying to get laid tonight and unless you're willing to oblige, then I need time to pull some moderately attractive bitches that are up to making some bad decisions."

I truly wish I could say that this wasn't a normal thing for Mitch to say on a regular basis.

"Sometimes when you speak I don't know whether to hit you or your mum for screwing up so royally when it came to teaching even the smallest amount of respect for women."

"You could hit me. After all, I like it kinky," He said suggestively but with an easy grin and a laugh that made me know he was joking. Well, sort of joking at least. I threw my pillow at his head regardless.

"You might as well just collect the rest of the boys and head over awhile without us. I still need to get dressed and besides, Hazel will never come out of that bathroom while you're still in the room."

"Fine, but just know that my offer of incredible, mind blowing sex still stands." Mitch sang gleefully and I laughed as I chucked a second pillow at his head with far more force. "Farewell, Hazza!" He called to Hazel as he was leaving. "I hope you decide to change out of the grannie panties. Try some lace for once. Or better yet, nothing at all!"

"Go to hell!" She shouted from inside the bathroom and he exited the room while cackling like the wicked bastard that he is.

By the time Hazel and I got to the Room of Requirement, the party was already in full swing. Flashing lights threatened to give everyone there a seizure and they had Rose's younger brother DJing the surprisingly okay music that blasted throughout the room. Streamers and balloons in both gold and light pink lined the ceiling. Confetti covered everything in sight and they had bewitched it to fall softly from the roof, making it look like golden snow drifting down at a lazy pace. The whole effect was a bit much but Hazel, being Hazel, claimed that she thought it looked beautiful.

After having some of Mitch's drink as well as two shots of my own firewhiskey that I had stashed under my bed, I was feeling more than pretty good but I dragged Hazel to the bar area anyway to get myself another one. Louis, the fifteen year old Wotter, was playing bartender and he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. He was a bit too young for my taste but there was no denying that he was close to rivaling James in looks and had about five Hufflepuffs flirting shamelessly with him from across the bar. I convinced Hazel to at least have one drink which she agreed to after me begging for five minutes straight.

Once we both had a plastic cup in hand, it wasn't very difficult to find the boys. We went around couples unabashedly grinding against each other to the point where it was impossible to distinguish the space between their crotch and ass to see Cyrus, Scorpius, and Silas standing on the outskirts of the dance floor in our usual spot.

One of our favorite pastimes was watching our fellow students make complete fools of themselves while they were wasted so Hazel and I joined them in doing so. "Anything good so far?" I asked when we reached them.

I didn't bother questioning where Mitch was. After what he said earlier, frankly, I didn't want to know. The rest of the guys looked great, which is probably the best thing about being a Slytherin. All of the blokes were taught from birth to dress to impress and impress they did. Cyrus, especially, even with his glassy, partially bloodshot eyes, looked unbelievably fit and I downed about half my drink in one go just to avoid looking at him.

"A lot of poor rapping attempts from Hufflepuffs and a fourth year Gryffindor asking his mate if he's ever squeezed a grape between his buttcheeks," Scorpius answered nonchalantly, taking a sip from his own cup.

"Interesting," I muttered boredly and decided I needed to be more drunk to get through this night and still have fun so I tossed back the rest of my drink in one gulp, handed my empty cup to Hazel, and then stole Cyrus' cup so I didn't have to refill my own.

"Woah, easy there, killer," He cautioned lightly with a little laugh and grin after I chugged what he had remaining of his drink. "We don't want a repeat of Silas' seventeenth, do we?"

He was referring to the night where I had the brilliant idea to take a total of ten shots within a span of two hours. Most of the night was a complete blur and I woke up half naked in the kitchens with my hand in a pool of melted ice cream. The house elves didn't know what to make of it.

"If I recall correctly, you were just as fucked up as I was and I gave you shower sex and a hand job that night so I don't know why you're complaining," I pointed out reasonably, cocking my head slightly and adding a tiny smirk, which he returned.

"So my best mate and sister decided to celebrate my coming of age with dirty fornication," Silas bitterly mumbled in a rather disgusted, carrying tone. "That's great."

Cyrus and I, predictably, ignored him. "I also recall holding back your hair while you dry heaved into the toilet twice," He countered with an amused, reminiscent grin and twinkling eyes.

"Details," I said, waving him off. I then attempted to try and steal some of Scorpius' drink but he just held it high above his head until I pouted and left him alone. "Stinginess does not suit you, Scorp."

"And drunk does not suit that girl," Cyrus muttered, indicating with a nod of his head to a clearly wasted Gryffindor fifth year. She stumbled by us with her heels in her hand and her dress looking like it was about to fall off.

"Her boob's about to pop out, I have to go help her." Hazel sighed and Silas, quick as lightning, reached out, grabbed her arm, and wrenched her back.

"Just let it happen!" Silas insisted desperately. "I haven't seen a bare boob since I dumped Cora and I need something to get me through the night."

Much to his dismay, a swarm of Hufflepuff girls infiltrated and assisted in pulling up the girl's dress and throwing a cardigan around her shoulders. The girl, in her own version of thanks, then proceeded to vomit all over their shoes. Apparently being kind to drunk people has its price.

"Tough break, man," Cyrus laughed and ruffled his hair. Silas irritably slapped his hand away, evidently still somewhat annoyed that he found out we had shagged on his birthday.

"Did I sense some hostility in that hand swat?" Cyrus teased goodnaturedly but Silas wasn't having any of it.

"Hostility, yes, as well as repulsion at the thought of you two doing it," Silas grumbled and I rolled my eyes.

"It was months ago. It's time to get over it, don't you think?" I sighed exasperated and Cyrus snorted in agreement.

Before he could open his mouth to retort with something that was most likely very stupid, Mitch came into view, stumbling toward us looking excited to tell us something that was most likely very stupid. It was obvious that he was smashed just by one look at him and his shirt was partially unbuttoned and his hair was tousled in a way that it wasn't when he saw me earlier.

"Kylie Forbes, that fit sixth year Ravenclaw just sucked me off in one of the closets," Mitch announced loudly over the music when he reached us and he looked more than pleased with himself. "Can I get a hell yeah?"

All three boys gave him a congratulatory pat on the back while I scoffed. Hazel shot him a look of disgust and ran off supposedly to go fill her drink. "Forbes will blow anything if it's in front of her face more than two seconds." I said unimpressed. "Not exactly an accomplishment."

Mitch looked in my direction and gave me a long, calculating look which involved unabashedly scanning my body up and down before turning to my brother. "You know what your sister needs, Silas? A really good shag and I can provide that for her." He drunkenly slurred and Silas' face set into a deep scowl while I slammed a hand to my face in frustration. "Like, Cyrus, mate, you know I love you but you can't give her the proper amount of sexing that she needs like I can."

"Mitch, stop speaking. I'm begging you." I groaned as I could feel the high level of irritation just flood off of Silas especially after he just voiced his strong opinions about Cyrus and me.

"Oh you'll most certainly be begging," Mitch insured suggestively with a wink that made me consider slapping him. Silas definitely wanted to do a lot worse than that which was clear by the eye twitching facial expression that he was currently making.

"And that's my cue to get you the hell out of here," Scorpius half shouted and rushed to drag Mitch away from my murderous looking stepbrother.

While Silas glared after Mitch's retreating figure, I leaned over to Cyrus and muttered to him, "Attempt to get my dear brother laid tonight or at least to second base. He needs to loosen the fuck up."

"Consider it my mission for the night," He promised with a smile that showed off his dimples that always managed to cause my heart to flip and my inebriated mind started thinking dirty thoughts that I banished away.

I wanted to ask him to go dance but I figured Silas' head could only take so much before it exploded. So in respect for my darling brother, I left them both to go search for a) someone that was relatively good looking and not a creep to dance with and b) more alcohol. Before I could find either of those things though, I desperately had to pee.

The line for the loo was about a mile long and I contemplated using my authority as a 7th year as an excuse to cut to the front, but eventually decided against it. I began to regret that decision as I had to listen to a girl whine incessantly to her friend about wanting a slice of pizza. I also bared witnessed one of the girls in the queue throw up into her purse which was just wonderful. By the time it was my turn, I was about to wet myself. It happened every time I drank but it wasn't until I was actually peeing that I registered how drunk I was. For some reason, pissing and eating always triggered my realization of the level of intoxication that I was currently in and right now I was feeling excellent.

I made my way out of the bathroom and over to the bar area because I figured I could use a few more shots and I saw something I never expected to see. Hazel, _my_ Hazel, with her back pressed against the bar, her arms looped around some bloke's neck, and said bloke with his tongue down her throat. What in the fuck is happening to the world?

"Hazel Jocelyn Scott!" I half shouted with wide eyes and a jaw-dropped expression. She detached her face from his and gave me an excited squeal.

"Mose! I missed you!" She exclaimed in a gleeful, rather squeaky tone that told me that she was rather fucked up. The guy that she making out with turned to me and although he was presently red-faced with swollen lips, I had to hand it to her, he was decently fit. He had a mop of shaggy blonde hair and a pair of dark chocolate eyes that felt remarkably warm. I didn't recognize him from any of our classes so I figured he was a grade below and most likely a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. "This is Luke and he is very nice and he is very good at snogging!"

"It's actually Liam, but thank you," He interjected politely and Hazel collapsed in a fit of giggles causing me to sigh. My beloved best friend was at that point where she'd wake up in the morning hating herself so I knew she should call it a night.

"Okay, you've certainly had enough to drink. Time to go night night, love," I cooed patronizingly, holding out my arm for her to take so she didn't fall when she tried walking. She pouted, but took it anyway. "It was lovely meeting you, Liam. Say bye bye to Liam, Hazel!" She leaned almost her entire weight into me as we drunkenly stumbled away together and she flopped her arm up and down at him in goodbye. The poor guy looked disappointed that I stole his hook up but as much as I wanted Hazel to lose her v-card, I didn't want it to be with some rando while she was wasted.

We wove in and out between groups of people until we reached the exit and I cautiously poked my head out of the door. When the coast was clear, I pulled Hazel out into the corridor with me and we both ducked behind the nearest tapestry. "Peeves!" I hissed as loudly as I dared. He was usually lurking about hall when he knew there was a party, hoping to catch students on their way back to screw with them and get them caught.

Peeves appeared in front of us and I let out a breath of relief. "I need you to do me a solid," I told him and his tiny face broke out in an obliging, wicked grin.

"How may I assist you, Miss Moseley?" He inquired. We got Peeves on our side about halfway through our third year when Silas, Mitch, Cyrus, and I accidentally blew up half of Filch's office during one of our detentions. We, in turn, got about three more months of detention but it was worth it because we had Peeves' respect and help whenever we needed it.

"I just need you to get her back to the Slytherin dorms without getting caught," I explained and then attempted to straighten up the girl that was practically passing out on my shoulder.

"Hazel, I need you to act sober for a few minutes, okay?"

"But I'm drunk."

"That's why I'm telling you to be sober."

"But I'm drunk," She insisted, slurring slightly.

"Jesus, just don't talk, okay?"

"I want to go back to the party and snog Linus!" She whined, swaying a little bit, causing me to have to hold her steady before she went slamming to the floor.

"You're going to do something _way_ more fun!" I promised in an upbeat voice that got her to perk up. "You're going to race Peeves back to the common room and the winner gets to sleep in your warm, cozy bed with the devil spawn Paula! Doesn't that sound great?"

"Yay!" She squealed, throwing her arms up in the air in excitement. I nodded at Peeves and he whizzed down the corridor and Hazel instantly went tearing after him looking enthusiastic. I wouldn't have entrusted her with Peeves if I didn't think she'd get back safely, but I prayed that she wouldn't trip over her own feet on the way there and send herself into a wall, but as she turned the corner, it was no longer my concern.

I found my way back into the party and took the shots that I was going to take before I was distracted by Hazel sucking face. I took three for good measure and I was at the point where they stopped burning going down and things began to get fuzzy.

With my other friends no where in sight, I tossed back one last shot and made my way to the dance floor. I spotted Izzy dancing wildly in the center by herself so I decided to join her. She cheered when she saw me and I laughed as we linked hands and spun around in circles.

Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the only thing spinning as the effects of the past few shots fully hit me. The blaring music, flashing lights, and surrounding sweaty bodies weren't helping. I let go of Izzy's hands and stumbled over to a wall that was a little bit aways from all of the dancing and slumped down until my ass hit the floor. I suddenly regretted those last shots with every fiber of my being and I wished that there was some way I could be sober again. Or at least more sober, I should say. I closed my eyes, not planning to pass out, but not planning to get up any time soon either.

"There you are!" Someone exclaimed, sounding relieved, from above me and I popped an eyelid open to see Fred Weasley standing in front of me. He was looking proper fit as usual, not as fit as his cousin, of course, but no one is as unfairly fit as James bloody Potter. "Rose and Malfoy haven't been seen for over an hour. James kept using his coin to try and get to you but you weren't responding." That got my attention and I frowned in confusion. My mind wasn't cut out to process such information at the current moment.

"How did you-"

"Oh please, James is my best mate. I've known for ages." He explained and while I presently couldn't summon the anger toward James at how he blew the secret, it would come later, trust me. "Let's go, he wants you to help him go find them."

I had no energy whatsoever to stand let alone go find Rose and Scorpius. I just stared at Fred as he waited for me to get up, wishing that he'd just understand that I'd never move.

"Come on, Moseley, come on!" He exclaimed cheerfully and began clapping his hands and bent slightly to pat his thighs.

"I'm not a dog, Fred Weasley. Go fuck yourself." I snapped at him and then closed my eyes again, ready to peacefully relax and possibly pass out by myself.

That's when I was suddenly ripped from my comfortable spot against the wall and found myself being lifted into a standing position, supported by Fred himself. "Hate to break it to you, love, but you're coming whether you like it or not."

Instead of battling with him though, I just made myself completely dead weight and even let my head drop down so it appeared that he was hauling my corpse away to go throw in the Black Lake.

I was expecting someone to at least be like 'hey, what are you doing with that dead body', but alas, I was mistaken at how much I thought the school would care if I had croaked.

"I found her." Fred announced proudly after a couple of minutes of my lifeless body being dragged past the dance floor area and over to a section of the Room of Requirement that didn't feel as busy.

"Jesus Christ, did you drug her as well?" James' voice questioned but he sounded more amused than concerned with whether or not I had been roofied.

"Nah, she's just piss drunk. I want to go try and get head from Allison, so I gotta run." He attempted to hand me off to James, but James being James, let me fall to the floor.

I was simply too lazy to get up at that point and glared up at them both as they watched me, looking rather entertained. "Fuck both of you."

"Later on, Moseley. It's been real." Fred said with a chuckle and saluted me and I don't even know why but I found myself saluting him back before he ran off to go get blown by fellow 7th year Gryffindor, Allison Reed.

I tilted my head so I was looking up at James. "You summoned me, master?" I said in a sarcastic drone that he managed to crack a grin at and he crouched down a bit so he was more on my level.

"Well, I was going to have you help me deal with the Malfoy/Rose situation but you're clearly too shit faced to be of any help."

"You're sounding rather judgy right now, Potter and it's not a good look on you."

That wasn't exactly true though. Honestly, James Potter could be severely constipated and be dying of a deadly disease and even that would be a good look on him. My eyes were on his face which was closer than I originally realized. I could smell the alcohol on his breath and the way his cheeks were flushed told me that he was fairly intoxicated. This was was the first time I had ever been around him when he was drunk and something about him felt a lot more laid back than usual.

"Absolutely zero judgement here, Moseley. I respect that fact you're currently behaving like a fourth year after taking a half of a shot of flavored vodka." He teased with a little grin. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously because the way in which he teased was as if I was a friend and James and I were the furthest thing from friends.

And in the spirit of not being friends, I decided to challenge him. "Oh please, I could outdrink you by a mile, Potter." I scoffed but as soon as the words came out of my mouth I realized that it probably wasn't wise of me to start a game that I knew I currently couldn't win.

In the beginning of the night, starting out sober, I'd possibly have a chance, but now, when I was already completely sloshed, it maybe wasn't best decision. "Take a second and look at yourself, Moseley. Are you sure you want to continue with that thought?"

I blinked up at him for a second, considering, and then proceeded to flick him off with a massive grin on my face.

"Oh it's on," He smirked, reached down to grab my hands, and then hauled me to my feet before I was even aware of what was happening. My head whirled at the sudden motion and I fell into him. He caught me easily and cocked an eyebrow up as if to ask if I was alright. To that, I rolled my eyes but I stumbled a bit as I tried to make my way forward.

He guided me through the hoards of people and I was made very aware of the fact that his hand was on the small of my back. I was grateful for the help though because without him the journey to the bar would've been a hell of a lot more difficult. He was a tad stumbly himself which told me that he was more intoxicated than I originally anticipated.

In my seven years at Hogwarts, I had come to discover that there were a lot of different types of drunks and partiers.

There were the Hazel's who didn't usually drink so when they did they completely let loose like out of a scene from Girls Gone Wild. Exhibit A being her making out with the bloke at the bar tonight. Exhibit B being almost every other time she drinks and happens to end the night half naked.

There were Silas' who were bitter and irritated about everything in the party setting while they were sober but once they had a few shots in their system, typically became the life of the party. I didn't care enough to crane my neck in any direction to look, but it wouldn't surprise me if Silas was in the middle of the dance floor, getting ridiculously excited to each passing song that he even remotely recognized.

There were Mitch's whose whole goal of the night was to gain as many notches on the bedpost as possible. I don't exactly know how he did it and it wouldn't shock me if he was lying, but in sixth year, he managed to hook up with five different girls in one night. Hazel gave him the silent treatment for a week, claiming that it was because he was a 'degrading, womanizing, piece of shit', and I couldn't really argue with her there.

There were the Scorpius' who never seemed to get sloppy drunk because they were almost always babysitting their friends yet they always seem to have a good time themselves. On my sixteenth birthday, Mitch, Cyrus, Silas and I decided to get roaring drunk and Scorpius managed to make out with two different girls, dance to almost every song, and get all of us tucked into bed, peacefully passed out without any injuries or permanently bad decisions made by 1 AM.

There were Cyrus' who were hard to place but just kind of bumbled around, typically totally wasted, doing whatever seemed appealing to them in that moment, which, in Cyrus' case, was usually me.

Then there were apparently James' who seemed to be a lot more carefree and easygoing than they were when they were sober. His type of drunk were the most fun to be around because they liked pretty much everyone when they were intoxicated and appeared to be more open than usual. They were touchy, flirty, funny, and easily amused all at the same time. They were infectious but also very frustrating because you couldn't help but enjoy their company immensely when you were around them.

We both leaned against the bartop, with him leaning slightly into me with his hand still on my back. It felt natural and I liked the physical contact with him way more than I should.

"Lou!" He yelled to his younger cousin who was currently serving a pair of redhaired, Gryffindor twin girls that had been rumored to make out with each other in front of different guys to turn them on and toy with his emotions before they left the poor bloke horny and begging for company. "LOUIS!" He shouted and banged his hand against the countertop until he was able to draw his attention.

Louis' head snapped in our direction and shot his cousin an annoyed glare before making his way over to us. "Dude, could you not see that I had the Hanover twins and their 'twin twins' in my grasp. I've been half in love with them since second year."

"This is more important." James insisted shortly. "I need more alcohol."

Louis' eyes shifted in my direction. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He said after giving us both a scrutinizing look. "You and Fred polished off an entire thing of firewhiskey between the two of you in like an hour and she's been up here like at least seven times tonight each time more blasted than the last."

"Oh piss off, Lou," James snorted and then proceed to hop over the countertop and push his cousin out of the way to have access to the liquor. For some reason I found the whole sequence of events hilarious and I started laughing more than normal.

"Don't do anything stupid, James." Louis warned with a shake of his head and one last glance towards me before going back to flirt the Hanover twins. I didn't really know what he meant by that and I didn't care to know. James ignored him and poured us each two shots and effortlessly climbed back to my side of the bar.

"Time to put your galleons where your mouth is, Moseley," James challenged with the corner of one of his lips crooked upwards ever so slightly. He was closer than he was before and he voice was low in a way that was almost flirty and it made me want to jump of the Astronomy Tower. We kept eye contact as we both tossed back our shots in perfect synchronization but unlike him, I couldn't help but wince and shiver in disgust as I slammed the shot glass back down on the bartop.

"Fuck that, holy shit," I said, partially gagging from the taste. For me, alcohol was terrible in the beginning and then it became tolerable a bit later and then it went straight back to being terrible as the night progressed.

"Admitting defeat so soon, Moseley?" James quipped with a smirk and took a step even closer so that our front of our bodies pressed together. When I looked up and him and raised a questioning eyebrow, he merely blinked innocently and grinned. "I'm disappointed."

He knew what he was doing. He knew he was driving me crazy with his subtle, sort of flirting and I tried to remain nonchalant but truthfully all the physical contact made me want to do nothing other than tear off his clothes and have my dirty way with him.

"Okay big shot, you give both of those a go," I retorted, avoiding his eyes and trying to ignore the inner turmoil of horniess that I was currently feeling, and slid the remaining two shots in his direction. Without a pause, James threw back both in a matter of seconds.

"Fifty galleons says you toss your cookies by the end of the night," I said even though I was staring slightly open-mouthed in awe.

"You're talking to the guy that did three keg stands, two beer bongs, and took six shots all in one night and then ate five slices of pizza and still managed to not puke," He boasted, a tiny bit slurred, and his cheeks were red with heat as an effect from the alcohol he had just consumed.

The mention of food suddenly sparked an intense craving in my brain. The kind that I only ever got when I was drunk and/or high and it made me want to cry. "You know what I want right now? Like what I would probably sacrifice my first born child for if I had kids?"

"What?" He asked looking genuinely interested but with that partially vacant drunk look in his eyes.

"Fucking waffles, dude." I practically moaned and threw my arms out in the air in frustration at my longing. "With like melted butter and syrup and shit."

"Shut the fuck up, Moseley." He whined clutched his heart like he was in pain because I knew as soon as I said it he wanted them too. "Don't do that to me."

"Can we go get waffles, Potter? Please! I just want waffles, please," I begged desperately, clutching his arm and tilting my head to the side. It only took him about a half a second to consider.

"Lead the way."

That was all I needed to hear before I set off in the direction of the door, weaving in and out of people at an unreasonably fast pace, fueled by my desire to stuff my face with breakfasty goodness. It wasn't until we had gotten outside of the Room of Requirement and into the corridor that James told me to slow down.

"I'm on a mission, Potter," I replied shortly and then added without turning around, "And don't pretend that you don't like looking at my ass in the shorts from behind."

Hell, if he could flirt then so could I. Although what I said doesn't really fully qualify as flirting, more like unabashed cockiness, but I was okay with that.

"If you turned and walked backwards, I could stare at your chest instead," He proposed and I grinned because I could tell just from his voice that _he_ was grinning.

"Don't be greedy, Potter," I told him yet I spun around anyway so I was facing him, causing him to smirk, as I continued to take smaller steps backwards so he caught up easily. While my eyes were on his face, his were scanning my body and in that moment, I had never been so attracted to anyone.

We were probably less than a foot away when I stopped walking backwards all together and he paused too and I felt like I could cut the sexual tension with a knife. We both knew what we wanted to happen yet we knew it couldn't. Too much pride to get with a Slytherin and vice versa. Plus, it would totally fuck with our semi successful (okay, so far unsuccessful) couple breaking up duo so we both just stood there in the middle of the corridor, completely frozen.

But then my eyes caught something small turning the corner and my stomach sank. "Shit," I grumbled when I saw Miss Norris slowly prowl in our direction. Peeves watched for everything and anything for us except for Miss Norris because he apparently had an aversion to cats for some reason. Miss Norris was exactly the same in almost every way to Filch's previous cat that died a few years before we came to Hogwarts except for the fact that Miss Norris apparently wasn't married. I had never had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Norris but I was convinced that Miss Norris was most definitely more evil. This bitch would not only snitch but she'd bite your ankles until you _bled_ before she snitched.

James turned his head around and swore before grabbing my hand and pulling me into a run. We darted through the corridors, nearly tripping and falling many times, before James pulled me into a broom closet and slammed the door.

He fell backwards with his back against the wall and I fell into him slightly. Both of us were breathing deeply and our hands were still attached. James looked down at me and my eyes met his as I looked up at him.

"Fucking hell," He muttered huskily under his breath and then his lips crashed onto mine.

AYYYY I'm back and already have ideas for the next chapter. I had most of this chapter written for the longest time but it just took me forever to finish for some reason. I hated to leave you guys at a cliffhanger but who am I kidding cause I love cliffhangers. When I'm the one writing them at least. I'm probably going to write the next chapter of this next just cause I have a lot of it planned but I am going to try and get some Enemies with Benefits done too. I know I left you all at a cliffhanger for that too and I apologize. I'm terrible, I know.

I really hope you guys like this story as much as I do because it's so much fun to write. Please, please review cause I am going to start answering those again (once again, I'm terrible) and I'm desperate to know what you all think. Favorite characters? Least favorite characters? Favorite ships? Anything?

Okay, I'm done talking now. I love you guys to pieces xx.


	6. Chapter 6

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Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Even though my mum was virtually nonexistent for nearly my entire life and I saw our old, crotchety house elf more often around the house than I did my dad, I like to think they still each gave me some good genes. I got my mum's golden brown hair that thankfully, usually managed to do what I wanted with minimal effort on my part as well as my dad's rare, but almost always, infectious smile. By far though, the trait that I valued the most that I inherited from them was my inability to get bad hangovers. My dad would be able to go out with his coworkers, have an absolutely obscene amount of whiskeys, and then work a fifteen hour shift the next morning with no problem.

While the rest of my friends typically suffered terribly, I was always in the clear. Silas was normally a zombie after a night of heavy drinking and it was generally impossible to get a full sentence out of him until around dinnertime and Hazel would shut herself up in our room with her hangings closed and an eye mask on because even the slightest bit of light would cause her to whine and hiss in pain.

I considered myself lucky to only have a small, dull headache after how much I drank the previous night when I began to stir the next morning. The headache I could easily handle. What I couldn't handle was the heartbeat I felt against my cheek that was coming from someone's bare chest. My own heart began to pound as memories of the night before came rushing back to me all at once.

I couldn't decided if I wanted to cry or scream when I realized that James and I had sex and in a fucking broom closet of all places. I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to get used to the light, and was taken aback by the familiar green, silk hangings. I crooked my head up in confusion and instead of seeing James Potter's sleeping face, I was met with Cyrus' clear blue eyes and I nearly pissed myself.

 _What the actual fuck._

I was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was shirtless and that I was half naked. I had absolutely no recollection of us having sex yet all signs pointed to the fact that we did. For a moment, I seriously considered just dropping out of Hogwarts all together and quitting drinking because I had officially hit a new low. James _and_ Cyrus in the same night? I'm 115% sure that Silas would have a heart attack and check me into a convent if he ever found out.

Before I could let out a shriek of surprise and self hatred, the curtains flew open to reveal a very gleeful, evil looking Mitch. "Well, well, well, what did you crazy kids get up to last night?" He asked with an extremely mischievous looking grin on his face that made me groan into Cyrus' chest.

"We didn't do anything," Cyrus informed him and my head popped in surprise.

"We didn't?" I croaked with wide eyes causing him to raise an eyebrow at me before explaining.

"Much to my dismay, no. You came stumbling in here at around 4 AM last night and started taking your clothes off and then just passed out on top of me."

I let out a sighed of relief at knowing that I wasn't as much of a slag as I originally thought. I mean, I still shagged James but that was just something I was currently banishing from my thoughts.

"Very uneventful. I'm disappointed in both of you," Mitch commented boredly and I rolled my eyes as I sat up so I was no longer lying across Cyrus' toned chest.

"Where's Silas?" I asked, pulling back the hangings on the side of the bed opposite of Mitch to see that my brother's bed was empty and unmade.

"If he would've been up here and seen you two, Cyrus would currently be in the hospital wing so my guess is that he's passed out in the common room." Mitch responded and I snorted at how right he probably was. I pulled myself out of the bed to find some clothes to put on, not caring that they were both seeing me in nothing but my lacy, charcoal bra and underwear. Mitch had seen me in various stages of nakedness in the past when I would be sneaking out after a night with Cyrus, and Cyrus, well, he's obviously seen _all_ of me many, many times so I didn't care that their eyes were on me now.

"So what did you do with the rest of your night?" Cyrus asked me as I picked up one of Silas' quidditch tee shirts off the floor to put on.

"More like _who_ did she do," Mitch corrected and I froze with the shirt barely over my head as I spun around to face them.

"Excuse me?"

"Hickey on your right boob." Mitch pointed out with a smirk and I shoved Silas' shirt the rest of the way down as I turned my back to them, internally cursing. I was going to fucking kill James Potter.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied as my mind flashed back to the memory of his lips in that exact place just a few hours ago. Goddamn him. Part of me wished I hadn't remembered any of it, but I did. All of it. And it was good, earth-shatteringly good, and it made me want to take a cold shower and then immediately light myself on fire afterward.

"Ah, then why is your face flushing," Cyrus questioned and I bit my lip in frustration at my cheeks heating up as I thought about the previous night and I pretended to make myself busy in the search for a pair of sweatpants to throw on.

"And why are you refusing to look at either of us?" Mitch demanded in a smug sort of way that made me want to punch him.

I snapped my head up, making sure to individually look both of them square in the eye before saying, "Fuck off."

That's when my body was suddenly lifted from the ground faster than I could even think and I was suspended in air by my ankle. I let out a shrill shriek. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"C'mon, Jord. We're all friends here. Just tell us who you shagged and this'll all be over." Mitch bribed with his wand out, telling me he was the one that cast the jinx. Cyrus was still in his bed, but now propped up into a sitting position with his hands folded in an attentive position, clearly interested as well as entertained.

I kicked and thrashed, attempting to do something to break myself down even though I knew it was no use. "This is cruel!" I bellowed. "You know I don't like heights!"

"You're like two feet off the ground, Mose" Cyrus pointed out, earning a very angry middle finger from me.

"LET ME DOWN!" I ordered, trying to make my voice sound intimidating but unfortunately that's fairly difficult when you're hanging upside down and you're not wearing pants.

"No can do, love. We're both invested now in finding out who you spread your legs for so I suggest you tell us or else you'll have to wait until Hazel comes to free you." Mitch threatened and I let out a snarl of frustration because we both knew that with the amount that Hazel drank we wouldn't be seeing her for about another six hours.

"Who says I spread them for anyone? Maybe I just got in a wicked fight last night and got punched in the boob causing it to bruise which you mistook for a hickey," I suggested and in response I suddenly sailed even higher in the air causing me to let out a sharp intake of breath.

"Let's not play games here, Jordan. Just tell us who he was," Cyrus said dully and my head was beginning to pound from all the blood rushing to it.

"He? I never said it was a he. Who knows? I wouldn't be opposed to some girl on girl-" I started to say, pretty much just throwing out some bullshit in an attempt to get myself out of the conversation, before Mitch cut me off.

"As pleasing as that image is to my brain, cut the crap and just tell us."

"Nope." I answered shortly and stubbornly and Mitch jerked his wand upwards making me give a small shriek.

"What in the hell is going on?" Scorpius' confused voice said, entering the room, and I perked up at the possibility of someone that could rescue me.

"Scorpius! Help me!" I pleaded and tried to swing my body his way to no avail.

"We're trying to torture her for information on who fucked her last night." Cyrus explained to him as if it was a completely normal thing to be occurring.

I craned my neck in Scorpius' direction and narrowed my eyes when I saw that he was wearing the exact same outfit he'd been wearing the night before. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he spent the night with the birthday girl and the thought revolted me. "Same clothes as last night, Scorp? Have anything to share with the crowd?" I inquired, quirking up an eyebrow to which he shot me an impassive yet considering look.

"Carry on." He replied simply before retreating to the bathroom to most likely wash the smell of sex with good for nothing Gryffindors off his skin. Then again, I probably had the same smell but his was worse. James Potter may be an arrogant prat but Rose Weasley straight up sucked ass. I shouted some colorful words back at him to which I predictably got no response.

"If you don't let me down in ten seconds I'll scream," I threatened, now just completely frustrated at the lack of progress I was making in my quest to have both feet planted on the floor.

"You're in the Slytherin dorms. You act as if screams of torture are anything out of the ordinary." Cyrus commented, making a fair point but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

"Let me down," I whined as I began to feel slightly dizzy from being upside for so long.

"Just tell us and this could all be over." Mitch pressed and I groaned tiredly.

"Were both of your nights so pathetically boring that you feel the need to interrogate me about my sex life?"

"Actually yes," Cyrus admitted, shooting Mitch a dark glare. "Mitch decided it was a fantastic idea to beer bong straight vodka and he ended up puking all over himself making it my responsibility to drag his passed out, vomit smelling ass back to the dorm."

Mitch looked more impressed with himself than anything and only vaguely sheepish. "Charming," I said sarcastically, wrinkling my nose in disgust.

"Says the girl that couldn't even remember if she'd shagged her best mate _after_ she shagged someone else," Mitch reminded and Cyrus gave him a fist bump in agreement causing me to roll my eyes.

"Seriously let me the fuck down."

"Not until you tell us."

My patience was wearing thin and my head was starting to feel heavier and heavier with each passing second. There was only so much longer I could be suspended by my ankle before I would pass out.

"Let me down."

The walls began to spin to the point where I felt like I was going to throw up.

"No."

"Let me down."

I could feel all the blood pounding in my head.

"No."

"Let me down."

Spots began to appear in my vision.

"No."

I couldn't even distinguish who had responded as whoever spoke sounded like he was miles away.

"Please, let me dow-" My voice faltered and faded off.

Mitch and Cyrus shouting "Oh shit" in unison was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

My head felt like it had been repeatedly beat by a hammer for like nine years straight and the light was positively blinding when my eyes fluttered open. It took a few seconds to realize that I was in the hospital wing and my friends were surrounding my bed, but no one, with the exception of Cyrus, noticed that I was awake.

His eyes lightened and he opened his mouth to say something but I put a finger to my lips to silence him. He nodded slightly in understanding and went back to making designs in the air with his wand like I wasn't there.

Mitch was flipping through a copy Quidditch Illustrated, most likely trying to find the pages that had the adverts for Beater bats featuring half dressed models because, well, why _wouldn't_ they be half dressed?

Hazel looked like she wanted to kill Mitch and was shooting him very seething looks, seemingly trying to get him to notice that she was angry with him.

Scorpius appeared to be working on homework and his hand flew across the parchment at record speed and I rolled my eyes at how predictable he was.

Silas was tapping his foot anxiously, biting his nails, and glancing at the clock every thirty seconds, assumingly because he was freaking out that I wasn't up yet. All he needed to do was actually, you know, _look_ at me to realize that wasn't true.

"Hazel, darling, if you could stop sending me murderous glares every five and a half seconds that would be fantastic." Mitch drawled boredly, not even taking his eyes off of his magazine to look up at her.

"Don't you dare 'darling' me, Mitchell Franklin Walker! You're both bloody lucky that she didn't break her neck when you dropped her." Hazel shot back furiously, looking like she wanted to attack him.

"She'll be fine! She's only been unconscious for what, seven hours?" Mitch sighed, exasperated, and still no one had realized that I was awake, waiting patiently with my hands folded in my lap.

"She cracked her fucking head open, shit for brains." Silas snapped angrily.

"Minor details." Mitch responded boredly, waving him off and I had to resist a snort.

"I hope she kicks both of your sorry asses when she wakes up."

"That's a terrible thing to say to your best mates, Si." Cyrus grinned and put a hand on his heart in mock hurt.

"You'd both deserve it."

"Okay you're one to talk, Scorp. You came in, saw what was happening, and then went to take a shower," Cyrus retorted, making a fair point.

"I'm not exactly sure that can be proven in any way." Scorpius replied nonchalantly but avoided glancing in Silas and Hazel's direction as they were both shooting him dangerous looks.

"You're such an prat. We at least baked her something with our own four hands, blood, sweat, and tears to make up for it." Mitch asserted dramatically. "Are you just gonna hope she has amnesia and doesn't remember you walking out on her?"

"Pretty much." He shrugged. "Besides, you think she's going to forgive you for taking that picture?"

"Hell yeah, it'll make her laugh."

"I'll be the judge of that," I announced, making my consciousness known for the first time causing all of their heads, minus Cyrus', to snap my way in surprise.

A chorus of excited and relieved 'Mose!''s rang through the air and I was engulfed in a massive hug with Hazel and Silas. Mitch and Scorpius tried to get in as well but both Hazel and Silas practically hissed at them until they backed away.

"How are you feeling?" Hazel fussed in a concerned, mothering tone as she gently rubbed my shoulder.

"Just dandy with the exception of feeling like someone dropped a cinderblock on my head." I grumbled, shooting a very pointed look at Mitch and Cyrus who both shifted uncomfortably.

"Poppy said earlier you'd have to stay overnight for observation." Silas informed me and I groaned.

"That's such total bollocks," I whined. "I'm fine."

"We could practically see your brain a few hours ago," Scorpius stated and I cocked my head to the side slightly in consideration. "And there's still blood all over your shirt."

"My shirt actually," Silas reminded with a raised eyebrow.

"Now where is this picture?" I asked quickly, trying to move the subject away from Silas' ruined bloody shirt and why I was even wearing it in the first place.

Mitch and Cyrus grinned and Scorpius tried to hide his smirk while Hazel rolled her eyes and Silas face palmed and shook his head.

The moving image they placed in my hand didn't surprise me in the least bit. I mean I guess the effort they took to get it printed before I woke up was a little shocking, but other than that it was very typical. Basically, it was me knocked out on the hospital bed with my mouth hanging slightly open and bandages wrapped around my head with dried blood partially streaked down the one side of my face. Mitch and Cyrus were on either side of the bed, humping it while giving thumbs up to the camera, and toward the end Madam Pomfrey came running in the shot, looking horrified and shouting at them both.

All in all, it was actually pretty humorous but I didn't want to give them the satisfaction so I just turned up my nose and handed it back to them. "Lovely."

"We made you a cake," Mitch told me in a slightly hopeful tone as they both looked kind of disappointed that I didn't laugh at their picture. Cyrus gingerly grabbed a dull, open white box from beside my bed and placed it on my lap.

Mitch was a firm believer in the idea that cake could make anything better. Once when he got so belligerently drunk at a party that Scorpius' parents threw over the summer and basically just fucked up everything he possibly could, he baked Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria a cake that said 'Sorry I blacked out, almost killed your house elf, and set your couch on fire'. Uncle Draco wasn't going to forgive him at first, but when he found out the cake was red velvet with cream cheese icing, he embraced Mitch like a son.

I was pretty impressed with the frosting decoration to be honest. The icing was blood red with little pink, cracked in half, brains all over it. In neat cursive writing it said 'Sorry we broke your head'. I smiled a little bit at what I was about to do which they mistook for me being pleased with their effort. Although I was, I wasn't going to let them get off that easy.

"Aw," I cooed and beckoned them over as if I wanted a hug. They grinned, happy that I was forgiving them for cracking my fucking skull open but instead of embracing them like they thought I was going to do, I took a massive handful of cake and slammed it first into Cyrus' face and then Mitch's.

"You bitch," Mitch sputtered, face covered in frosting, while Hazel, Scorpius, and Silas applauded in the background. Both Cyrus and Mitch were laughing, telling me that they weren't pissed because they knew they deserved it.

"Give us a kiss then," Cyrus proposed with a grin as he pursed his icing covered lips and I shrieked and shifted back on the bed, trying to get away from him.

"You're going to get frosting on her bandages!" Hazel scolded while Silas forced a hunk of cake into his mouth and started chewing happily.

"Calm yourself, love," Mitch told her and then swung a goodnatured arm around her shoulder and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek causing her whole face turned red, but not from the icing.

It was then that Poppy came running out of her office screaming, "What are you doing? This is a hospital not a one year old's birthday party! Out! Out! Out!"

Hazel started apologizing profusely, Scorpius rolled his eyes, Silas and Mitch shoved more cake in their mouths before they lost their opportunity, but Cyrus leaned down to me, so close that his lips were almost brushing against ear. "We left you a little treat underneath your pillow," He whispered with the corner of his lips pulling up before giving me a light kiss on my cheek, leaving a mark of frosting over the dried blood.

"It better be either chocolate, weed, or a flask of firewhiskey or else I don't care."

"Well it's one of the three," Cyrus promised with a smirk as Poppy shooed them all one-by-one from the hospital with them shouting their goodbyes to me until she slammed the door on them. She aimed her wand in my direction and effectively removed what remained of the apology cake before disappearing to her office grumbling and angrily muttering to herself on the way there.

She came out a bit later to give me a potion for the pain, which sort of helped, but made me feel a bit more loopy than anything. I wasn't exactly complaining about that though. The rest of the hospital wing was empty with the exception of a second year Hufflepuff that tried to pull a leaf off of the Whomping Willow on a dare and ended up with two broken arms, broken ribs, and internal bleeding. The poor sod fell asleep early and when I figured Poppy had safely retired to her bed for the night, I finally pulled back my pillow to reveal a skillfully rolled joint and a green mini muggle lighter. I couldn't help the smirk that was suddenly slapped on my face and I made a mental note to fully forgive them at some point tomorrow. 

When I decided the time was right, I gently tucked the joint and lighter into my bra as my lack of pants resulted in a lack of pockets and I crept as silently as possible out of the hospital wing. Truthfully, I probably didn't even need to be quiet considering the fact that Poppy was ancient and she slept like she was already dead. Also, if the second year happened to wake up, he wouldn't even dream of ratting if he knew what was good for him.

It was late on a Sunday night so I wasn't too concerned about getting caught especially because Scorpius was the prefect on duty and he almost always blew it off so there wouldn't be anyone patrolling the hallways.

It was drizzling lightly outside which I was not fucking with so I dragged my ass to one of the corridors that had open air windows on the one side and no portraits on the other and fished out the lighter and joint from under Silas' shirt.

Was it a good idea to get high right after suffering a head injury? Probably not, but I really couldn't give a single shit and I struggled to light the lighter. We used to use our wands to produce the flame but it just resulted in one too many burning hair episodes so we had to cut that shit out real fast.

When I finally managed to light the damn thing after many failed attempts and frustrated cursing on my part, my shoulders relaxed and I inhaled.

"Are you smoking?" A somewhat familiar voice asked from behind me and I spun around so fast that I nearly gave myself whiplash. There before me stood a bemused Fred Weasley doned in grey sweat pants and a wrinkled black tee shirt. Fuck my life. Like honestly.

"No." I muttered as a plume of smoke came out and wafted right in his face. He quirked an eyebrow as the corner of one of his lips twitched upwards. He surveyed my appearance and cocked his head to the side slightly in confusion.

I probably looked nothing short of ridiculous combined with batshit crazy. My head was still wrapped in bandages making it look like I escaped from the psych ward or some shit, I had dried blood and icing still on my face, and I was wearing nothing but Silas' quidditch shirt that came to about mid thigh and also had blood on it. I was a real class act at the moment and it was going to be fairly impossible to explain.

Fortunately for me though, he didn't even ask. Instead, he eyed the joint hungrily. "You want share half of that with me?"

"Aka, you want to steal half of my weed." I corrected, but passed him the j regardless causing a gleeful smile to spread on his face. He kept it held between his lips as he plopped himself on the ground beneath the window and then patted the space next to him for me to join him. I simply stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes and he let out a sigh as he exhaled the smoke out.

"C'mon Moseley, despite what you might think, I'm not actually a terrible guy." Fred insisted and I let out a small snort of doubt.

"I don't trust you with the information you know," I explained but slid down next to him regardless. I hated the fact that Fred knew that James and me were trying to break up Rose and Scorpius. He didn't exactly strike me as the type of person that was able to keep a secret and if any of my friends found out I was working with James Potter they'd shit a brick. A very heavy brick. Then they'd throw said brick at me.

"Oh relax," Fred said with a suddenly devilish grin as he handed me back the joint so I could take my hit. "I'm not going to tell anyone about you and James shagging in a broom closet."

His words took me completely off guard and I started coughing so violently that he had to hit my back because he was worried I was dying.

"I can't believe he told you," I sputtered and buried my head in my hands once my mini episode was over. James Potter was dead to me. While I got a cracked skull trying to keep my friends from finding out, he spills like it was nothing.

"He didn't, but you just did," Fred informed me with the joint dangling out of his mouth, looking highly devious and I nearly choked on my own spit as my head snapped up.

"Motherfucker," I hissed and slapped a hand to my face. This was one of those times where I hated myself more than usual.

"At least he showed you a fun time," Fred shrugged and he had a little mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "No offence, but you seemed like you needed a good lay."

"Who said it was even good?" I scoffed unconvincingly.

"Well, the nail marks I saw raked down his back this morning were one indication," He smirked in a way that told me was proud of his cousin and I rolled my eyes but was frustrated at my stupidity for leaving a trace of what we did on him. Then again, that bastard gave me a hickey so he was at fault as well.

"Maybe that was just my way of conveying that it was terrible and he needed to get off me," I suggested lightly and Fred gave me a look that shut me up fairly quickly as I took my hit.

"So are you going to tell me why the hell you are pantsless, slightly bloody, bandaged, and smoking by yourself," He asked finally.

"Ah, but I'm not smoking by myself, am I?" I countered with a little bitterness.

"Touché, Moseley." Fred grinned as I handed the j off to him. "But seriously, I know Slytherins are a bit off but this is strange even for you lot."

"I could ask you the same question minus the pantsless, bloody, and bandaged part. Why are you wandering the castle in the middle of the night?" I questioned as I looked at him through glassy eyes. I was starting to feel the effects and by glancing at him, I could tell he was too. He looked lazy and completely relaxed with a dopey looking smile on his face. His eyes were slightly vacant and a little bloodshot and I don't know why but he reminded me of a puppy. I had an urge to pat him on the head for literally no reason whatsoever but I managed to hold it in.

"I was headed to the kitchens to have a sandwich and possibly a dozen or so chicken wings and I saw your name on the map-"

"What map?" I asked curiously, cutting him off, but the thing that really sparked my interest was the mention of chicken wings and a sandwich.

"James didn't tell you about the map?" Fred responded, sounding kind of surprised, and he reached into his pocket to reveal a vaguely yellowed parchment. He unfolded it, tapped his wand, and mumbled the words, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

I watched open-mouthed in a dumbstruck way as an entire map of Hogwarts appeared before my eyes.

"So this is how he always knows where I am," I muttered in awe as I spotted my name next to Fred's in the exact spot where we were currently sitting.

"Yeah, the kid mastered the whole 'pop-out-of-thin-air-and-scare-the-shit-out-of-people' thing when he was like twelve. I think he gets some sort of weird, twisted pleasure out of it." Fred explained with the last bit of the joint pinched between his fingers. We could both tell it was pretty much finished so he destroyed the evidence of it ever existing with his wand. "I'm feeling a case of the munchies coming on," He said as he heaved himself to his feet. "Care to join me in the kitchens?"

"You read my mind, Weasley," I grinned as he offered his hand down to me to pull me up. "I don't know about you, but I'm thinking nachos and possibly some pancakes."

Fred turned his head to give me a considering look and a little smile. "You know, you're not half bad, Moseley." He told me and swung a casual arm around my shoulder that surprisingly didn't bother me.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I'm getting emotional over my food right now, Weasley. Don't be surprised if I start sobbing over my hash browns." I warned him as I stared down at my mind blowing plate of amazingness.

"I'm having a relationship with these pancakes," Fred moaned with a mouth full of food. "I know it's just the first date but I think I'm going to propose. I'm ready for a lifelong commitment with these pancakes. Possibly children if they are so inclined."

Fred and I managed to make it to the kitchens and it was definitely one of the better ideas we've had. The house elves were for some reason hilarious in our high state and I think we both laughed to the point where we couldn't breathe for about five minutes straight when they greeted us at the door. We ordered every type of breakfast food we could imagine along with a ridiculously huge platter of loaded nachos that practically made me weep when I saw them.

I finished my last bit of French toast and flopped myself down on the bench with my head against Fred's thigh. I groaned in pain from the excessive amount of food I ate but it was totally worth it. Fred was still putting some down at an alarmingly fast rate and I was fairly impressed with his apparently bottomless stomach. My head was spinning slightly and I was so full that I felt like I had a food baby but at the same time I was completely content.

Well, at least I was content until I heard the door open and James Potter's voice say, "What the hell, man? You left over an hour ago for a sandwich; I thought Miss Norris got you on the way here."

"Oh fuck me," I groaned under my breath and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"He already did, remember?" Fred mumbled down to me with a huge grin and bulging cheeks.

I swung my arm up to whack him on the shoulder for that comment which drew the attention of James. "Moseley?" He said, sounding confused, as he leaned over the table to see me all stretched out on the bench with my head on his best mate's lap. "Did you drug her again?" He asked Fred in a voice that sounded like a mixture of confused, bored, and a little curious.

"It was her weed. If anything, she drugged me." Fred replied innocently and I glared up at him. "Besides, why do you always assume I drug her?"

"Because she always looks like she's partially dead whenever you're with her." James said as he took a seat across from his cousin.

"That's cause she's exhausted from all the hot sex we just had on the table." Fred quipped while he shoveled more food into his mouth and I heaved myself up into a sitting position next to him.

"You're so full of shit," I said but I was kind of laughing a) because I was high and b) because even though he was very fit, the thought of shagging Fred Weasley was hilarious to me.

"Hey, better than a broom closet, right?" He teased with a wicked smirk that caused me to smack him across the chest and James to partially choke on a leftover chip from our platter of nachos.

"You told him?" He demanded, looking over at me and his eyebrows furrowed together when he fully took in my incredibly messed up appearance that still hadn't been properly explained. "What in the hell happened to you?"

"What happened to me is neither here nor there," I muttered and avoided looking at him in the eye as I snatched a strip of bacon from Fred's plate.

"C'mon Moseley, just tell us." Fred begged. "We're all friends here."

"Are we though?" I posed, cocking my head to the side slightly.

"Well, you and me just smoked a j and then ate about eight plates of breakfast food and James has seen you naked and been inside you," Fred explained oh-so eloquently with a great big grin on his face and I had the urge to punch him in the face. "That's about as friendly as it gets in my opinion."

It suddenly struck me how much they both suddenly reminded me of my mates. Fred was so Mitch (less of an asshole though) in that he frequently made vastly inappropriate comments and always knew dirt that he loved to rub in your face yet you knew you could somehow sort of trust him with it. And then James was, of course, Cyrus (more of an asshole though) in that I shagged him yet it somehow wasn't weird.

With Cyrus, it was kind of just natural even though it shouldn't have been because we were such good friends. It was just like 'yeah, it happened, it's whatever, you wanna go again and then maybe go get some food?'. With James, we were just kind of picking up where we left off as mutual partners in crime that kind of don't like each other.

And although they did remind me of my mates, I didn't exactly want them knowing how said mates hung me upside down, tortured me, and dropped me on my head so I decided that it was time for me to depart. "Well, it's been absolutely lovely but I must be off." I announced quickly but Fred clamped a hand down on my shoulder to stop me before I could get up. When I shot him a glare, he merely blinked innocently and grinned.

"Not so fast, Moseley, I'm invested now in knowing. What was it? Did James bash your head into the stone by accident while he fucked you against the wall?" Fred suggested with a smirk and my jaw clenched as I held back some choice words. I was actually starting to think he was somehow _worse_ than Mitch.

"Freddie, my dear cousin, may I just begin in saying that last night-" James started to say but I cut him off.

"Never happened."

"Yes, thank you, Moseley, _never_ happened. So can you just drop it, yeah?" James said and the corner of Fred's lips twitched in a way that made me nervous.

"Oh so you didn't fuck her in a broom closet until she climaxed so powerfully that she scratched her nails down your back in pure ecstasy?" Fred countered and James looked like he wanted to slam his head into the table.

"Jesus Christ, Weasley!" I yelped and slapped a hand across his chest. Well, at least I tried but he caught it before I could. He swung a muscular arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest in a brotherly way.

"Aw you know you love me, Moseley," Fred grinned down at me and although I found him deeply annoying, the puppiness of him was winning me over, causing me to smile and playfully push his face away from me.

"I don't like how chummy you two suddenly are," James grumbled with his nose slightly wrinkled in a way that made him somehow look both very attractive and constipated at the same time.

"Well get used to it, pal. I'm planning on making Moseley my best man in my upcoming marriage to the pancake currently digesting in my stomach." Fred informed him and then turned to me. "Which is _why_ you should tell me why the hell you, no offence, look like utter shit right now."

"Nice try." I responded and ruffled his hair a bit in a patronizing way before I swung a leg over the bench to make my escape. I could feel James' eyes on me but I avoided looking at him as I made my way to the exit.

"Why's it gotta be like that, Moseley?" Fred whined, mocking hurt.

"I'm a Slytherin." I called back to them from halfway out the door. "It's my job to be frustratingly elusive."

YOOOO, I'm back. Again. I'm so sorry for how long this took to get out to you all. For the record, I had well over half of this written for like months but I got stuck for a bit which delayed me finishing it for like ever. But yeah.

Does anyone else have an extreme amount of love for this story's Fred? Because I know I do. I really like writing him too. Speaking of Fred, I do plan on returning to Enemies with Benefits. It's going to be the next thing I'm working on so expect an update for that at some point in the future. I have about 1500ish words written so far but I have a feeling it's going to be a long chapter so I still have a while to go. But hey, at least I have plans.

If you could leave me a review, you'd be forever in my heart. This is one of the chapters that I've been excited about for awhile just because it has all my favorite guys in it (aka Cyrus, Mitch, James, and Fred) and I hope you guys liked it as much as I liked writing and thinking about it!


	7. Chapter 7

"This is becoming increasingly more boring by the second."

"Then leave."

"But you said I could be apart of your stalking!"

"Only because you wouldn't shut up about it and I didn't think that I had an option unless I wanted to listen to your incessant begging at two in the morning every night."

"Will you both shut the hell up?" I whispered sharply, sending an irritated glare at James and Fred who didn't understand that to effectively stalk someone you had to be, you know, _fucking quiet_.

We were in the library, watching Scorpius from behind a bookshelf that featured more dust than books. He had picked the table in the most remote part of the library where only anti social Ravenclaws typically ventured. Suspicious? We thought so. As of right now, he appeared to only be doing homework which was why Fred was being a whiny bitch.

Normally, James and I would be under the invisibility cloak for our stalking episodes but we all had trouble fitting now that Fred insisted on coming along. We had charmed a few of the books so that they were see through from our side but opaque from the opposite. It was a spell no doubt invented by some sort of pervert that liked spying on girls in changing rooms but it was helpful to us nonetheless. Even so, I was still anxious to be out in the open with the pair of them. I found a bit of comfort in the fact Hazel had Arithmancy Club and that Silas, Mitch, and Cyrus were all in detention for skipping Charms yesterday to plan out their fantasy quidditch draft so I knew they wouldn't randomly be popping into the library for a spontaneous study session.

"Well excuse the shit out me!" Fred says, putting his hands up in mock defense. "I just don't exactly see the point in watching Malfoy write a bloody essay when clearly nothing exciting is going to happ-"

"Look!" James hissed and elbowed his cousin in the ribs as Rose Weasley came into view. She had her strained book bag slung over her shoulder and despite appearing vaguely out of breath, she looked otherwise perfect. Her bright red, wavy hair cascaded down her back in an annoyingly effortless way and her Gryffindor uniform was neatly pressed and not even the least bit out of place. She smiled hugely when she saw Scorpius as if her damn day was brightened just by the presence of him.

I instantly pushed myself in between Fred and James to get to our end of the pair of Extendable Ears that Fred had asked his dad to send us. We had him charm the other end to be invisible and that side was already in place next to Scorpius' table. 'Anything to keep Rosie away from a Malfoy' was what George Weasley had said in the note attached which I predictably scoffed and rolled my eyes at. Fred considered his unlimited supply of WWW products to be his contribution to the cause but in reality, James could have just asked his uncle or we could've, you know, _bought_ them but we let him think he was being helpful. The thing about Fred Weasley was that he was very much like a puppy. Adorable and incredibly annoying yet you just couldn't bare to do anything that might upset him because he was so loveable.

"Sorry I'm late," Rose apologized as she approached the table and dropped her bag down on an empty chair across from Scorpius. He lifted his head from his parchment and I felt dread hit my stomach when his eyes lit up as he saw her. "I got caught up talking to Professor Longbottom in the corridor about the Herbology assignment."

"It's fine," Scorpius said casually, shrugging easily, even though he damn near throws a hissy whenever one of us is five minutes behind schedule on anything. "I got to catch up on Ancient Runes so we can start on Astronomy if you'd like."

"Brilliant," Rose responded cheerfully, looking more happy than the average person should when beginning to study as she pulled out the proper text book. They set to work immediately and soon the only sound emerging from their table was coming from the scratching of quill on parchment.

We kept waiting for something, _anything_ , to happen but nothing did. They were studying. Literally doing nothing other than flipping through their textbooks and writing down notes. They weren't even talking. At first I thought it was a good thing because maybe they didn't have anything in common other than homework. But then as I watched them work in silence, I realized this was worse than them talking. They were so comfortable with each other that they didn't even _need_ to talk. They didn't find the quiet awkward or uncomfortable because it just seemed natural to them and suddenly I felt like ramming my head into the bookshelf.

"This is bad." I muttered and James grunted beside me in agreement as he watched them, Scorpius particularly, with a certain disdain.

"You guys realize they are literally just studying, right? If anything, it's bad that we let a loser like Rosie into the family." Fred commented dully, completely unaware how serious the situation was.

"Oh Weasley," I pouted, placing a delicate hand on his cheek in an incredibly patronizing way.

"You are so blissfully yet tragically blind," James continued in a pitying tone while shaking his head.

He narrowed his chocolate brown eyes at the pair of us, glanced again over at Rose and Scorpius who still had their faces buried in their work, and then back at us. "You both are mental." He informed us before beginning to scan the contents of the bookshelf, trying to find something else to occupy his time.

James and I went back to watching Rose and Scorpius who remained completely oblivious to our concentrated stares. I kept witnessing Scorpius steal little glances at her and I wanted to chuck a book at his head. I would've been happy for him if it was anyone else. I just didn't get why it had to be Rose Weasley.

"Bloody hell, this thing is all about the reproductive health of goblins." Fred exclaimed suddenly, flipping through the pages of the book he was holding. "This shit is like six hundred pages! Who in the hell would even read this!? Like it has diagrams of a goblin's lady parts!" He prattled on and I was about to snap if I had to listen to much more. "Who even does research for this type of thing? Imagine that being your job. I mean how terrible-."

"Weasley, you know how I was beginning to vaguely enjoy your presence in small intervals?" I prompted sweetly, cutting him off from his incessant ramblings and he nodded, glancing up to look at me with his puppy eyes and face. "Well, that's going to very quickly change if you don't shut the fuck up in the next .5 seconds." I threatened, still maintaining the sugary tone to my voice which caused James to snort in amusement.

"I was just trying to enlighten you both with some interesting knowledge about goblins that you might not have known before but if you choose not to have your life enriched then fine by me," Fred muttered sounding the tinsiest bit hurt and because he was a puppy, I felt guilty for being mean despite the fact that he was irritating as hell. I sighed and leaned over to ruffle his hair a bit in an affectionate way to let him know that I still vaguely enjoyed his presence in small intervals.

His face broke out in a big grin that warmed my heart a bit. "I would give you a friendly kiss right now, Mose, but I don't want to be anywhere James has been before because I think that's considered incest."

I slapped a hand to my face, not having anything other response.

"Jesus Christ," James mumbled under his breath from beside me just sounding so done with everything.

"What are you guys doing?" Asked a sudden voice from behind us, causing us all to jump and whip around. Fred was so surprised that he dropped the _very_ large and heavy book that he was holding directly on my foot. I yelped in pain and James reached around and clamped his hand over my mouth to silence me.

Lily Potter was standing before us, clutching a Transfiguration textbook and raising a interested eyebrow. She was shockingly pretty for a fourth year and the only one of the Potter children to inherit the Weasley red hair. I didn't know too much about her other than the fact that she was currently dating Albus' best mate, Rory Finnigan. I was only even aware of that because for some reason it was still one of Hogwarts' favorite pieces of gossip even though they've been official for nearly a year. She was also apparently some sort of quidditch prodigy according to Silas, which I guess wasn't too surprising considering who her parents and brothers are.

"Nothing," James said a little too quickly. I glanced over at Fred to see that he was smiling at her innocently in a way that proved he was everything _but_ innocent. We couldn't have looked any more suspicious if we tried, especially considering James' hand was _still_ over my mouth.

"Right." Lily said disbelievingly, eyeing me curiously, probably wondering what a Slytherin was doing sneaking around with her cousin and older brother.

"We're studying." James then lied, detaching his hand from my face after I elbowed him in the ribs, and Fred reached down to pick up the book he dropped on my foot and held it up as proof.

"If this is how you study then it's no wonder that Freddie got a D in History of Magic last year." Lily snorted and then let her eyes scan the cover of Fred's book. "Also I'm not sure what course offered here teaches about goblin sex organs unless Hagrid decided to get creative with his lesson plans."

"I resent that!" Fred said defensively in reference to her remark about History of Magic. "I only got a D in that class because Binns spent the year sexually harassing me."

"Is it even possible to get sexually harassed by a ghost?" I wondered aloud, unable to help myself.

"No." James answered for him, rolling his eyes. "He got a D because he spent the entirety of that class trying to get Piper Caldwell to go out with him."

"It worked eventually, didn't it?" Fred responded, looking impressed with himself that he managed to snag the best looking and most talented player on the Hufflepuff quidditch team. She was incredibly daft and was freakishly obsessed with her pet toad but I decided not to bring that up.

"Yeah, until you bailed on her in the middle of your date to go hook up with Allison Reed." James reminded him and I smirked at Fred.

"You know I have a soft spot for Allison! I can't be accounted for my actions when it comes to her." He insisted and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hasn't she been dating that Elliot bloke since fourth year?" I asked as images of the stunningly pretty brunette holding hands with a Ravenclaw popped in my mind. Lily's eyes snapped to my face when I spoke and I ignored her gaze.

"Details," Fred muttered, waving me off.

"I reckon she has a soft spot for him as well," James said who looked mildly entertained at the topic of discussion. "She's cheated on her boyfriend for him about twenty times."

"How twistedly romantic," I mumbled sarcastically and Lily laughed. If I was a friendly person I probably would've introduced myself even though she most likely already knew who I was from my reputation. But alas, I am a Slytherin, and not the Hazel version of a Slytherin, so I didn't say anything.

I think that Lily's laughter made James finally realize that she had acknowledged my presence because he suddenly looked mildly concerned. "Lily, you can't tell anyone that you saw the three of us together." He told her seriously and her eyes shifted to me again, looking very interested.

"What's in it for me?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow. I gained a bit of respect for her at the question and I glanced at James to see how he responded.

"How about I don't tell Al that you and your boyfriend were snogging on his bed at the end of the summer?" James suggested roughly and my respect of the youngest Potter went up once again.

"You saw that?" Lily squeaked as her face became as red as her hair.

"Why do you think Finnigan suddenly got a stomach bug and had to go home?"

"That was you?!" She cried, looking horrified.

"It was me actually," Fred admitted, looking pleased with himself. "James was all for decapitating him but I managed to rein him in. You're welcome."

Lily shot her cousin a glare and then looked at me again. "Why are you three even together in the first place? Are you guys hooking up or something?" She accused, eyes shifting between the three of us and I nearly choked on my own spit. I refused to look over at James but I felt him stiffen slightly beside me.

"Yep, you guess it. She's nailing both of us." Fred replied with a cheeky grin and swung an arm around my shoulder to pull me into him. "We like to come back here cause it's a bit more private."

"Oh yeah cause doing it against filthy bookshelves really gets me off." I muttered sarcastically and roughly shoved him off of me.

"Hey filthy bookshelves, filthy broomclosets… What's the difference, am I right?" Fred smirked evilly with a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he nudged James.

"You two shagged in a broomcloset?!" Lily squawked, her mouth dropping open in what looked like delight mingled with shock at the newfound information. I was giving Fred the death glare that could end all death glares. Honestly I was surprised that he didn't just shrivel up and die on the spot from the power of it. Instead he was pressing his lips together in a very entertained way.

"Lily. Out." James growled and pointed in the direction of the exit and I hated him so much for looking so good when he was mad and threatening. "Now."

"This library is for anyone. You can't _make_ me leave." She stated, not ready to back down.

"Wanna bet?" He retorted, raising an eyebrow.

She folded her arms across her chest and jutted out her chin in a challenging way. Within a second, James had her thrown over his shoulder and was carrying her struggling body away. She didn't dare scream or else Madam Pince would ban her for the rest of her Hogwarts career. Seeing him lift her so effortlessly made me sweat a little but I had more important matters at hand than to get turned on by James Potter.

I turned my attention to Fred who was very idiotically not looking the least bit terrified. "I'm going to give you a thirty second head start." I told him simply, being more than fair with the amount of time I was giving him to run for his life.

"You don't scare me, Moseley." He said stupidly and I almost laughed.

"Have you ever been on the opposing end of one of my hexes before?" I questioned, taking a small step closer to him so the intimidation factor increased. "Remember how that Hufflepuff was in the hospital wing for two weeks after we dueled in Defense last year?"

He still didn't move, only looking a bit more wary.

"You're losing time, Weasley." I warned, glancing down at the silver watch on my wrist. By the time I looked back up, he had taken off, finally realizing that I could send him to St. Mungo's if I felt so inclined. I grinned to myself and peeked through the bookshelf one last time to see that Rose and Scorpius still had not moved from their studying. I gave them a farewell eye roll before marching after Fred, wand in hand, and more than ready to do some damage.

I've made a lot of bad decisions in my life. Top of the list is most definitely sleeping with James, no question. Another was taking my Transfiguration OWL high as hell even though I still managed to get an E somehow. I think it was most likely because my examiner was a roaring pervert but it worked out in my favor so I didn't mind.

The bad decision that I was currently regretting with every fiber of my being was taking NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures. Silas and Cyrus were the only two of my friends dumb enough to take it as well. Silas, because he didn't really need any serious courses considering he was planning on playing professional quidditch and he figured it would be an easy O. And then Cyrus was taking it because I conned him into it last year when we were picking courses. I promised sexual favors and he didn't really have any other choice but to accept. I, myself, figured it would be an easy O as well, and it was, but so not worth.

It was obscenely cold for the beginning of October and the journey to Hagrid's hut was more than miserable. It had rained the night before causing the ground to become slick with mud and my shoes weren't made for it to say the least. I had to keep grabbing onto Silas and Cyrus' arms to keep myself from sliding down the hill, something that they found incredibly hilarious.

"I'm going to break my ankle while simultaneously ruining three hundred galleon shoes and you both have the audacity to _laugh_?" I growled as I gripped Silas' arm, almost taking him down with me as I slid on the mud again.

"Who spends three hundred galleons on shoes?" Cyrus asked, shaking his head at the concept despite the fact that his cloak that was silk on the inside cost over five hundred.

"Fathers that forget their daughter's seventeenth birthday," I replied easily, casting a sad look down at the ridiculously expensive, once adorable, 'shit, I'm a complete fuck up as a dad so let me buy you off' belated birthday present. They made the feeling of the only relevant parent I had forgetting one of the most important days of my life appear like nothing more than a very dull sting in the back of my mind.

Cyrus sighed and stopped walking. "C'mon on then," He said with a little grin, signaling with a nod of his head that he was willing to give me a ride. I felt a great rush of affection for him as I jumped on his back and wrapped my legs around his waist. Silas wrinkled his nose a little bit at our physical contact but didn't say anything because he knew he didn't want to be the one lugging me on his back and getting mud on the front of his cloak.

My chin found the crook of his neck and I despised and loved him simultaneously for smelling so good. He was my favorite of all the boys to steal clothes from because I could just be wrapped in his scent all day. I always felt like I was going to damage Scorpius' neatly pressed outfits and Silas' clothes always smelled vaguely like the quidditch pitch. I pressed my cheek against the warmth of his neck and tugged myself closer against him. "You're an excellent human being." I told him and I could feel his grin.

"I know," He said as we marched the rest of the way down the hill. Most of the class was already gathered outside of Hagrid's hut which was a surprisingly big group considering how pointless of a class it was.

Izzy was there, standing with the Scamander twins babbling about stuff that no one would ever understand. They were some of the few that actually enjoyed the lessons and took them seriously. Cassie and Astrid were in the class as well for who the hell knows what reason and were getting chatted up by some daft looking Hufflepuffs.

All of the Wotters took Care of Magical Creatures too with the exception of Fred who was banned by McGonagall after he stole a niffler and tried to feed it to the giant squid. Even Molly Weasley, also a seventh year but in Ravenclaw, was taking the class which was unexpected. As Head Girl, I would've thought she'd be taking something a bit more serious but I suppose the loyalty to Hagrid was too strong to drop such a worthless course. She was holding hands with her boyfriend, Ashton Kirk, Head Boy and Ravenclaw as well. They'd been Hogwarts' 'it' couple for about two years now because every inch of the pair oozed perfection and happiness and it was a bit sickening to be honest.

James was there, listening to whatever Ashton was saying with what looked like feigned interest. When we got a bit closer, I saw his eyes quickly shift to Cyrus and me and something unreadable crossed his face for a split second before turning his attention back to his cousin's boyfriend.

Cassie's head snapped in our direction as we approached and her mouth formed a wicked smirk. "Jordan Moseley straddling someone? What else is new?" The majority of the class predictably all snickered while I rolled my eyes at the comment that lacked both cleverness and intelligence.

"Fuck off, Sparks." I snapped, descending from Cyrus' back, straight into the mud once again. "Everyone knows you blew a fourth year last week. At least I'm not a bloody child molester." Her face colored instantly and she looked fit to kill which I took great satisfaction in. I pushed my way to the front of the class with Cyrus' hand on the small of my back and Silas' on my shoulder, something their instincts always told them to do whenever someone insulted me. Well actually, typically Silas would either yell or punch but Cassie was a girl, therefore he saw it as 'my battle' even though it was still 'my battle' if my insulter was a bloke.

A small chorus of 'ooooh's' erupted at my response and my eyes rolled yet again. Hagrid called the class to settle down, looking and sounding fairly uncomfortable at the overheard topic of discussion.

Cyrus' hand was still on my lower back as Hagrid led us into the Forbidden Forest mumbling about how today's class would be a 'real treat'. He said that literally every lesson so I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't disappointed. When we finally stopped, there was nothing there. Hagird had this dopey grin on his face and Silas and I exchanged glances.

"Alright, who can see 'em?" He asked eagerly and I scanned the room as hands began to rise. Izzy was among them as well as some of the Hufflepuffs and one of the Ravenclaws. I saw James' jaw clench a little bit before his hand went up too. "I used to do this lesson a bit earlier but the ministry thought it was a bit dark fer OWL students. They're called thestrals and yeh can on'y see 'em if yeh've seen death."

I couldn't help but look over at James again and I saw Molly put a hand on his wrist in as if in a subconscious, comforting way. I was instantly incredibly curious and I wasn't sure why. I mean why should I care who he saw die? It had zero relevance to me but the question continued to plague me the rest of the lesson. He was so bloody closed off with everything to the point where I felt like I knew nothing about him. Not that I really _wanted_ to know anything about him but still. It had me wondering and I disliked myself greatly for continuing to steal little glances at him throughout the class. He was one of the few that opted to ride the thestral because, unlike a lot of us, he could actually see it.

For some reason he suddenly just felt like a complete stranger and it irked me. It's not like he knew anything about me either but I felt we had spent enough time together that we should like kind of _know_ each other at least a little bit. That wasn't really the case though. We'd had sex so I could tell you how he looked naked, which was _damn_ good, but that was about it. I didn't know why I was so bothered by it but I was.

Silas noticed something was off when we were walking back up to the castle and he nudged me with his shoulder. "You okay?" Cyrus' eyes snapped to my face and I quickly dropped my gaze from James' back in front of us. I slapped a smile on because really I didn't have anything to be upset about. I was being stupid and overthinking it. We were useful to each other, after a common goal, and nothing more. Anything else fucked things up. The one time sex already kind of complicated things. The more I knew about him and the more he knew about me, the worse off we'd be and I needed to remember that.

I nudged my brother back. "I'm fine. Starving though." I turned to Cyrus. "Smoke a j and then hit up the kitchens before Transfiguration?" I proposed with an eyebrow raise.

He grinned and pulled me against him. "You know me so well."

Hiiiii everyone. So I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter, especially the end, but it was a filler chapter before we get into the better stuff so there's that to look forward to. I hope you liked reading it regardless though. I had a lot of fun writing the first part of the chapter because Fred Weasley is everything I want and love in a human being. Also I liked having Lily in there too because she's going to come into play a little a bit later on. And I have to ask… Does anyone out there ship Cyrus and Jordan? Also, what are your favorite friendships so far? Or favorite anything so far? I'm curious so please leave a review and let me know! Love you all to pieces xx


	8. Chapter 8

"We have a problem." Mitch informed us after bursting through the door to the boy's dormitory. I was lying on Silas' bed flipping through Witch Weekly while he and Cyrus discussed last night's Puddlemere United match and Scorpius worked on homework.

None of us bothered to pay any attention to him because when Mitch said 'we' had a problem, it typically meant that _he_ had a problem. He most likely royally pissed someone off and/or fucked a girl with a boyfriend that he was 'unaware' of.

"I'm serious!" He insisted causing Silas and Cyrus to halt their conversation for a second and for me to glance up from the top of my magazine. Scorpius remained unattentive but that was no shocker. "Hazel has a date to Hogsmeade this weekend." He said as if it was the most terrible thing to ever occur and was waiting for a big response from us that he wasn't going to get with that information.

Hazel was surprisingly the member of our group that went on the most dates. Mitch just fucked around, Silas rarely even went to Hogsmeade and used the day to practice on an empty quidditch pitch, Scorpius wasn't really a 'date' type of guy, and Cyrus and I prefered to get high and go to Honeydukes. "And why is this a problem?" I asked in a bored tone, staring at him blankly.

"Because it's with Hufflepuff's quidditch captain!" Mitch exclaimed dramatically and suddenly the rest of the boys saw it as an big issue as well. Scorpius had even managed to put down his quill long enough to look interested.

"Oh for shit's sake," I muttered under my breath and shook my head. I was so done with quidditch running all of their lives.

"We have a match against them in three weeks!" Silas barked, instantly in captain mode. "There's no way in hell I'm letting that happen."

"Not to mention the fact that Liam Lucas is a total bitch." Cyrus commented and Mitch snorted in agreement.

The name Liam rung a distant bell in my head and the image of Hazel drunkenly snogging the decent looking blonde bloke at Rose's seventeenth appeared in my mind and I burst out laughing. Everyone's head snapped to me. "What's so funny?" Silas questioned and the expression on his face told me that he did not think this was a time for laughter.

"Liam spent Rose Weasley's birthday party with his tongue down dear Hazel's throat." I explained, more than amused. "Must've liked it because he's apparently going back for more."

They all wrinkled their noses and made faces of utmost disgust at the thought of Hazel getting any action. With the exception of Mitch, who saw all girls as sexual objects, I think the boys saw Hazel as a younger sister that they had to protect at all cost, which was incredibly stupid if you ask me. Plus she's older than all of us making it even more idiotic.

"That's it, I'm making quidditch practice mandatory on Saturday," My brother announced and I rolled my eyes.

"You're despicable. Let her enjoy her damn date!" I huffed and chucked a pillow at his head that he easily deflected.

"I'm doing what's best for the team. I can't have her being distracted right before a match." Silas responded in an annoyingly serious way. "You lot all good with that?" He asked the rest of the boys but by his tone, they didn't really have a different option. Cyrus shrugged and Mitch looked all for it. Scorpius, on the other hand, didn't seem too excited.

"I have an interview for a two week healing internship over winter break this weekend so I won't be in attendance." He said and somehow managed not to cower under Silas' glare.

"St. Mungo's?" I asked. If it was at St. Mungo's it's not like he'd even need to go to the interview. My dad could easily get him in. Scorpius was his nephew after all.

"Hospital in France."

"Fine, you're excused." Silas grumbled, not looking happy about it.

I watched Scorpius suspiciously as he went back to his homework while Silas, Cyrus, and Mitch began discussing quidditch tactics and Hufflepuff's weaknesses. There was something fishy about Scorpius' interview story and I didn't quite buy it.

I had James dig up information for me the next day about what Rose's Hogsmeade plans were. According to him, she was supposed to meet up with a boy from her Muggle Studies class who we'd never even heard of which we both thought was definitely a cause for concern.

This led James, Fred, and me to be stuffed in the back of a carriage on the way to Hogsmeade, all donned in black to make the stalking feel way more dramatic than it needed to be. Fred insisted upon it and although I thought it was stupid, I was killing it in my black leggings, boots, leather jacket, and sunglasses. If anything, all the black made us look even more conspicuous but I pretended otherwise for the sake of the outfit.

"So what's the plan?" Fred asked eagerly with his legs sprawled out in my lap. Typically, I would never allow such a thing but he greeted me with a croissant and tea this morning so I was giving him a pass.

"There is no plan." I answered dully as I picked a piece of lint off my leggings.

"There's sort of a plan." James disagreed, shooting me a look.

"Hardly."

"We're going to go into different Hogsmeade places, trying to see if Rose and Scorpius are actually doing what they say they're doing. That's a plan."

"Not a very good plan."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want to come up with something better?"

I opened my mouth to retort but Fred threw his head back and started whining. "Mum, dad, please don't fight!"

I whacked him in the stomach while James reached over and smacked the back of his head. "Oi! That's child abuse."

"You're not our child." I reminded him and he shrugged.

"Might as well be. You two fight like an old married couple and it's quite annoying actually. Do the world a favor and just kiss and make up." He paused. "Or shag and make up."

"I find it absolutely incredible that you are still alive after seventeen years." James remarked while shaking his head in an incredulous way. "It's truly shocking that no one's murdered you yet."

"It's the damn puppy face." I grimaced and pinched one of Fred's cheeks causing him to grin. "It's impossible to be mad at him."

"Oh it's possible." James grumbled but there was a definite undertone of affection in his voice for his cousin.

"James likes to pretend that he could live without me." Fred said to me in a stage whisper sort of way as he helped me descend from the carriage when we finally got to Hogsmeade.

James rolled his eyes but I could tell he was vaguely amused. "Where to first?" Fred asked, glancing between James and me.

"Might as well start with The Crystal Ball." I suggested. "If Scorpius actually has an interview for a fancy healing internship, it'll most likely be there." The Crystal Ball was a newer, fairly upscale restaurant that Hogsmeade had which typically repelled Hogwarts students because of it's higher prices. My friend group and I went there for a drink when we wanted to avoid the rest of the student population which was unusually often. We had to pay for Hazel because she couldn't afford it (not that any of us minded) and they didn't have butterbeer but the quality of their food and firewhiskey were always on point.

"Moseley, put on the invisibility cloak." James said and reached out to hand it to me.

"What? Why do I have to?" I argued, eyeing the cloak with a look of great contempt. Walking around Hogsmeade with that thing was something I was not keen on doing.

"Because you know that the three of us can't be seen walking around together and it looks less weird if Freddie and I are together as opposed to you walking by yourself."

I knew he was right but that didn't mean I was happy about it. "But I look good," I pouted, disappointed that my secret agent, ninja-esque outfit was going to go to waste.

"Put on the damn cloak." He ordered and threw it into my hands. I grumbled to myself but tossed it over my head while Fred snickered.

I trailed after them both as we headed to The Crystal Ball. The restaurant wasn't too far away thankfully considering James and Fred walked at a ridiculously fast pace and I was struggling to keep up with them and avoid running into people at the same time.

The hostess at the restaurant seemed confused when the boys told her that they didn't want a table but James merely smiled at her and she looked like she was about to damn near pass out, giving us free reign of the place.

Scorpius had left an hour before we did and we had been periodically checking the map to see if either he or Rose were back and Hogwarts for some reason. His name didn't show up so we knew he was definitely in Hogsmeade somewhere. We weaved in and out of tables, searching for a sign of him and his 'interviewer'. Fred managed to stop at nearly every table that had an attractive girl sitting at it, effectively hitting on each one even if she was on a date. It was annoying to continually stop for him but it was entertaining as hell at the same time.

Even James cracked a grin when his cousin used a particularly awful pick up line on a girl that was at least five years older than him. _'_ _Yeah, girls call me "Aguamenti." Every time they hear my name, they get wet.'_ Her date, a very tall, very muscular looking bloke, stood up, looking ready to beat him senseless so we had to run away fairly quickly to avoid a dead Fred Weasley.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of Scorpius anywhere in the restaurant so we had to start back at square one. Three Broomsticks was our next option but we ended up having to take a detour at the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes so James and Fred could say hi to their uncle/dad. I was actually allowed to take the invisibility cloak off for this stop considering that George Weasley already knew our plan to watch out for a Rose and Scorpius relationship and he was helping the cause.

I followed them through the store, trying to take everything in as we walked. It was actually incredibly impressive and I kind of regretted not going in it more. Fred banged obnoxiously on a bright purple door before bursting inside almost immediately anyway. His father was sitting behind an oddly shaped desk, flipping through stacks of papers, and his face brightened when he saw Fred and James.

"Well isn't this a nice surprise." He grinned and got up to give them both a hug. "I didn't know it was a Hogsmeade weekend. Your sister better be paying me a visit too. Unless of course she has a date." Mr. Weasley said pointedly and gave his son a meaningful glance.

"Already taken care of," Fred announced proudly. "He's currently in detention after a mysterious dung bomb went off in his bag during Transfiguration."

"Good man," Mr. Weasley said and gave him a pat on the back. It was then that he noticed me lurking awkwardly behind both James and Fred and he did a little head nod in my direction. "Care to introduce me, boys?"

"Oh, right. This is Jordan Moseley." Fred said cheerfully. "She's a Slytherin but actually pretty cool and not entirely evil and she's the one that James shagged against a wall at Rosie's seventeenth."

James instantly punched his cousin with a force strong enough to make him cry out in pain. Mr. Weasley looked like he was trying desperately to not burst out laughing. "Right, ah, well it's nice to meet you, Jordan." He said and reached out his hand for me to shake.

Even though he was a Gryffindor, I still came from a pureblood family where I was taught to respect my elders so I took his hand. "You as well, sir." I said politely, trying to ignore the fact that my face was coloring from Fred's comment. "And I apologize in advance for the future brutal injuries that your son is going to suffer at my hand."

"He no doubt always deserves it for something," Mr. Weasley said with an amused smile. He looked proud of his son for saying inappropriate things that caused people to want to hurt him on a daily basis. "I give you my blessing."

"Cheers, Dad. Thanks," Fred mumbled sarcastically and I grinned.

We stayed and talked to Mr. Weasley (who gave me permission to call him George) for a little while after that. He kept shoving WWW products in our hands for us to take back to Hogwarts and advertise to everyone. Some of them were actually really cool and I started cracking up when James put on a ring that caused him to briefly change into a women. The product was still in testing so he only got one boob and his hair went to feet instead of a normal length which only made it more hilarious. I think the last time I saw him like this was when he was drunk at Rose's party so it was interesting to see him so carefree and happy when he was sober.

After about forty five minutes, George said he had to get back to work so we took that as our cue to get going. Fred and I were in the middle conversation about the proper use of the new U-No-Poo candy while James gave his uncle a hug goodbye. I don't think George realized I could hear him but I saw him out of the corner of my eye lean in to James and whisper. "She's very fit, mate."

James shook his head and sighed in a frustrated way. "Trust me, I know." He grumbled back and I smirked the entire way to Three Broomsticks.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of either Rose or Scorpius there either but Fred did see Allison Reed, the girl he's been hooking up with off and on for who knows how long, having a drink with her boyfriend at a booth toward the back. Her eyes lifted from her goblet when she saw him and she subtly pulled twice on her left earlobe while continuing her conversation casually with her boyfriend and a massive grin spread across Fred's face.

I tugged on the back of James' hoodie from underneath the invisibility cloak. "What the hell did that mean?" I asked and he was pressing his lips together to hide his amusement.

"That's their signal." He explained aloud even though it looked kind of like he was talking to no one considering Fred appeared to be in his own little world of bliss. "In five minutes she's going to say she needs to go to the bathroom and they're going to shag in one of the stalls."

"While she's on a date with her boyfriend?" I questioned, my mouth dropping open slightly both in interest and surprise.

James shrugged. "It's twisted as hell but Fred actually really likes her I think." I looked over at her and cocked my head to the side, considering. She really was pretty. It wasn't exactly a shocker that he was infatuated with her. She had mane of curly, chestnut brown hair and a pair of kind green eyes. She had a kind smile too. Everything about her appeared to be kind actually, except, you know, the fact that she was cheating on her boyfriend.

"Isn't this just going to end up shitty for him?" I glanced at Fred who had a silly, little stupid grin on his face and my heart broke a tiny bit for him. "Like if he's into a girl in a relationship?"

"This is Fred we're talking about." James reminded me. "He doesn't see things that way. He's too positive about everything to see things that way."

The five minutes were up and Allison mumbled something to her boyfriend before heading in the direction of the toilets. Fred smirked and turned to James. "I'll see you later, mate." He said and clapped him on the back. "Bye Moseley, wherever you are," He said to me before he went after Allison.

"Poor kid," I muttered as I watched him walk away. James grunted in agreement.

Once again, we were back at square one. "Where should we try next?" He asked and I shrugged even though he couldn't see me.

"Where's the last place we'd ever expect them to be? If they are together, they're going to go somewhere where they'd never think we'd look." I said and James groaned.

"What?"

"Puddifoots." He said with great disdain. "Rose hates that place with a burning passion."

"Scorpius too." I muttered with dread so we set off for the little cafe, this time with James under the invisibility cloak with me so that way he didn't get attacked by fangirls for walking around Hogsmeade with no apparent date. The extremely close proximity to him was killing me just a little bit and it didn't help that anytime we almost ran into someone, he would pull me against him to avoid that person hitting an apparently nonexistent wall. Each time he touched me I wanted to light myself on fire but I had to ignore it because now was not the time to have an invisible, impromptu shag in the middle of Hogsmeade especially because we had just gotten to Madam Puddifoot's.

I spotted Rose Weasley almost immediately after we entered considering her red hair clashed horribly with all the pink. What was surprising though was that she wasn't with Scorpius. Sitting next to her in one of those curved, corner booths was a short, relatively mousy looking boy with brown hair and a spattering of freckles across his nose. I felt like I had seen him in the corridors in passing before but I didn't know his name or even his house. He looked like a Hufflepuff but then again so did Hazel. For all I knew, he could be a Slytherin as well. Then again, a Slytherin would never be caught dead in a Muggle Studies class which is where Rose apparently knew him from.

And she knew him quite well by the way they were cuddled against each other. "I'm going to kill him." James announced furiously as the kid put his hand on her thigh.

"Don't," I ordered and pushed his wand down. "This is what we want, remember? Better her with him than Scorpius."

James looked like he was in physical pain with having to restrain himself from hexing the poor boy into next week after he leaned down and started snogging her but I couldn't be more elated. It was a shockingly excellent turn of events and I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I felt a tad bit bad for Scorpius who seemed to have actually liked her but I was thrilled that she seemed to have found someone new.

"We should go," I said, trying and failing to repress the giddy smile on my face. "Leave them to their date."

"I need a drink," He grumbled as we exited the cafe. "Hog's Head?" He suggested and I was little surprised he was inviting me.

"Why Hog's Head?" I asked, my nose wrinkling a bit at the thought of that pub. Even though the old owner died a few years ago, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned since then and it reeked of goats.

"Because Hogwarts students rarely go in there and that means we can take off this damn cloak."

"Amen to that." I mumbled, more than ready to be free of it.

He was right about the lack of Hogwarts students at the pub but there was a lack of people in general as well. We sat down on the rickety stools at the bar and ordered our drinks from the bartender who was a young bloke that looked and smelled like he spent the whole day drinking the pub's entire stock of liquor.

James got a firewhiskey while I ordered a butterbeer, not really feeling like getting anything stronger. James, on the other hand, downed his glass in one go. "Easy there." I said dully with a raised eyebrow as I sipped on my own drink.

"I'm trying to suppress the memory of watching my baby cousin getting snogged and touched inappropriately in public."

"Chill. She's a year younger than you which doesn't exactly make her a baby." I said with an eye roll. "Plus _good thing_ , remember? It could've been Scorpius." That caused me to shudder a bit. "Now that would've been truly horrible."

"It's horrible either way. Only difference being is that I would've actually killed him if it was Malfoy."

"I would've helped you." I mumbled as I flicked some crumbs off the bar top and scrunched up my face in disgust at the thought of Rose and Scorpius snogging. "I'd never let him stoop so low."

"Can you not?" He huffed, looking frustrated with me. "I actually happen to care about Rose."

"Hey, at least I have a reason for hating your cousin." I shrugged. "You hate mine based on a stupid, decade old, schoolboy rivalry."

"What _possible_ reason do you have for hating Rose?" James scoffed, as if everything she did was perfect. "She's impossible to hate."

"She's the one that caught Cyrus and me and instead of minding her own damn business, she blurted it to the entire Great Hall." I explained with a slight bite to my voice.

"Aw, did you lose your fuck buddy, Moseley?" He sneered and took a sip of his second firewhiskey. "Excuse me if I don't feel that sorry for you."

"Things were really shitty after she did that, okay?" I snapped. "Silas wouldn't talk to Cyrus for weeks and he practically refused to look at me. Hazel was furious with us both for not telling her and even Mitch was pissed off to some degree." We joked around about it now, well Mitch did, but at the time, none of us barely even spoke to each other and it was absolute hell.

"That's not Rose's fault." James hissed roughly. "She may have been the one to tell everyone but all that shit with your friends would've happened regardless. They would've found out eventually so don't blame Rose for you inability to keep your legs shut."

I knew there was a bit of truth in his words but that didn't stop me from being furious with him.

"I don't have to take this shit from you, Potter." I snarled and glared at him. "In case you forgot, you had sex with me too. You _don't_ get to insinuate that I'm a whore. You have no right."

He wasn't looking at me and I saw his jaw clench and then unclench. "Fine, I'm sorry, alright?" He said but he didn't look apologetic or even the least bit sincere. Sleeping with him wasn't my proudest moment and I knew it wasn't his either but at least I wasn't embarrassed of it and I could tell he was. I was a slag to him and now he was just another guy that slept with the slag.

"Fuck you," I muttered to him and pushed my butterbeer to the side so I could order something a bit stronger.

"I said I'm sorry," James sighed exasperatedly.

"Yeah, and you seemed like you really meant it," I growled with an eyeroll as I took a big gulp of my scotch and nearly spit it out as it went down because it was so terrible.

"What would you like me to do, Moseley? Do you want to get on my knees and cry at your feet for offending you?" He suggested sardonically, his gold eyes cold and uncaring, and I glowered at him.

"I want you to get that I'm a fucking person, okay?" I snapped. "Like sorry I enjoy sex. I'm sick of everyone making me feel like shit about it all the time."

He didn't have anything to say back to that and he didn't really have a chance to anyway because someone was calling his name. I glanced up to see Lily walking toward us with her boyfriend, Rory Finnigan, in tow.

"What are you doing here?" James demanded roughly in his charming way of greeting his little sister.

"Nice to see you too, sunshine," She said sarcastically and plopped herself down on the barstool next to James. "Al was at Three Broomsticks with Nora Belton and he kept giving Rory dirty looks any time he touched me so we decided to come here."

"What makes you think I'll give him any less?" James questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you love me," She grinned. "Also I have blackmail on you." She then leaned in toward the bar so she could give me a very pointed, very mischievous smile. "Hi Jordan," She greeted in a sing-songy type of way and I couldn't help but smirk at how evilly brilliant she was.

"Lily," I greeted back with a head nod. James scowled at her while Rory appeared to be incredibly amused and was giving his girlfriend a look of deep admiration. I was impressed with her as well, especially considering that as a fourth year she managed to snag a pretty damn fit sixth year. Rory was tall and had a decent build as well as a pair of blue eyes that could cure dragon pox. He also looked at her as if he worshipped the ground she walked on. Like go Lily Potter for being awesome.

"Two butterbeers, please." She told the bartender and then turned to James after he walked away. "Unless of course you're willing to purchase us something a bit stronger?"

"You're dreaming," James snorted and then I, just trying to make James angry at this point, beckoned the bartender back over.

"Two vodka sours," I said and once he left again I slid them to Lily and her boyfriend. Both of their faces lit up and James glared daggers at me and snatched Lily's drink out of her hand.

"She's a fourth year!" He growled at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh relax, I'm sure you had your first drink around fourteen too. It's only one. Not like I'm trying to get her drunk or something."

"Yeah lighten up, James." Lily teased and elbowed him playfully.

"I'll tell mum." He threatened and she snorted.

"What are you five? ' _I'll tell mum'_ ," She mocked in a childish voice causing me to stifle a laugh. "It's one drink." She reminded and took the drink back out of his hand. Rory, I noted, had already finished his. James let her take it but didn't look happy about it.

He did lighten up though after a little more firewhiskey on his part and he even went as far to buy her and Rory their next drinks. My anger faded a little at him from the effect of my scotch loosening me up a bit. I wasn't anywhere near drunk but I was feeling moderately buzzed and it made the time that we all sat at the bar and talked and laughed with each other fly by. I lost count at how many drinks we all had and I think James did too. It wasn't until Lily started to slur her words did we realize that we got her a little drunk. And by a little drunk, I mean a lot drunk.

We should have put together the fact that her being the size of a twig would cause her tolerance to be a bit lower than ours. We attempted to give her some pretzels to sober her up to no avail so Rory decided it was best to get her back to Hogwarts. We helped him get her out the door which was a feat in itself. It was later than I expected it to be and nearly dark outside. We watched them stumble toward the carriages together and James shook his head.

"I can't believe you got my sister wasted." He muttered. He didn't sound angry though. If anything, he sounded somewhat amused.

"Hey you bought her two drinks and a shot." I reminded him. "You're equally at fault."

"We should probably actually head back soon too," He said as he glanced down at his watch. "What time does the last carriage leave?" He asked and I shrugged.

"Around nine, I think?" I responded. "Can I see the map? I want to see if my mates are done with practice yet or if Silas has gone truly insane."

He handed it to me and I held it under the light of one of the lamps hanging off of the Hog's Head. I saw Silas, Cyrus, Hazel, and Mitch's names all back in the Slytherin common room but I felt a brick hit my stomach when I saw something else. 'Scorpius Malfoy' was directly next to 'Rose Weasley' as they looked like they were headed quickly toward the North Tower.

"Shit," I hissed and thrust the map into James' hands so he could see for himself.

After Trelawney retired, the North Tower classroom became retired as well because no one in their right mind chose to lug themselves all the way up there if they didn't have to. It was now used as a hook up spot for those that knew about it. AKA Cyrus, Silas, Mitch, Scorpius, me, and then whoever else we brought up there. We tried not to use it too often so that way it didn't become too overpopulated to the point where we couldn't use it anymore whenever we wanted. And now Rose bloody Weasley knew about it.

"Why the fuck are they together?" James demanded angrily and I was confused about that too.

Why would Scorpius be with Rose when she just got done on a date with someone else? Unless...

"Scorpius is really good at potions." I said suddenly as it dawned on me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" James questioned as he stared blankly at his cousin's name on the map.

"Think about it. There's no way that Scorpius would be seen walking around Hogsmeade with Rose if they are trying to keep their relationship a secret-" I began and he put together what I was trying to finish.

"Polyjuice potion?" He posed and he looked how I felt. Annoyed and outwitted. I think we both sobered up immediately at the turn of events.

"I wouldn't doubt it." I sighed frustratedly. "Scorpius has the money for the ingredients and he's bright enough to make it. It also wouldn't take much for him to intimidate a mousy looking bloke into giving him a few hairs and making him stay hidden at Hogwarts for the day." I should've realized sooner that the boy had remarkable posture for an apparent Hufflepuff.

"That's irritatingly brilliant," James admitted in a grumble. "But why would they be going to the North Tower?"

The brick of dread was back in my stomach. "We use the North Tower as a hook up spot," I explained reluctantly. His eyes instantly widened in dismay at the thought of his cousin going there with mine and I felt the same.

"We have to go," He said desperately and spotted a broomstick poorly hidden behind a plant in front of Hog's Head. Typically there were broom racks where you could lock up your broom but whoever owned this one was clearly too piss drunk to bother. James, to my horror, ran over to grab it.

"Why can't we take a carriage?" I asked as my heart rate began to accelerate at the mere idea of flying.

"A carriage will take ages and then we'd have to run all the way up there. This will get us there in less than ten minutes." He explained as if it was obvious.

"That's stealing, you know." I pointed out reasonably, with my arms folded across my chest, attempting to keep the sound of shitting my pants fear out of my voice.

"I like to think of it as temporarily borrowing." He responded easily as he swung a leg over the broomstick. I stood frozen as if petrified, unable to move. "Well, get on." He ordered, irritated that I was holding us up.

"How about you just go without me?" I suggested weakly, eyeing the Nimbus with a, most likely, deeply terrified expression. James was, of course, oblivious to my obvious discomfort.

"Get on the damn broom, Moseley, before I shove it so far up your ass that you'll be shitting out splinters for weeks." He barked at me impatiently. His golden eyes narrowed dangerously, daring me to disobey him, and my fists, as well as my jaw, clenched.

I somehow found myself crossing the short distance between James and me and awkwardly clambering on the wooden piece of death. I don't know what possessed me to do it, I really don't. It was stupid of me, I know that. But then again, I was partially known for doing stupid things.

James, not shockingly, didn't bother to ask if I was ready before kicking off and shooting upwards. I let out a surprised squeak and gripped the back of his black hoodie as if it was a life line. I slammed my eyes shut as I felt the whip of the cool wind hit my cheeks and I felt the panic start.

I could feel us rising higher and higher and my breathing was getting more and more difficult to control. I was biting on my lip with so much force that I felt my teeth break the skin. My stomach felt like it was still on the ground and I wished that the rest of my body was with it. I was at the point where I couldn't keep from visibly trembling. James had to have noticed but hadn't bothered questioning me about it and kept his stony silence. He was determined to get there and he wasn't going to let me hold him up.

You know in those movies where someone is doing one of those crazy death defying things like bungee jumping or rock climbing or some shit and they say 'don't look down' and those stupid assholes _always_ look? Yeah, well I'm one of those stupid assholes.

I don't know why I chanced peaking open an eye but when I did and saw that we were flying well above the Forbidden Forest, I felt like I got suckerpunched in the gut. I forced my eyes to shut again buried my head into James' back causing him to stiffen immediately. My hands began to shake so badly that you'd think I had Parkinson's disease.

"Potter, we need to fly back down." I said with my lips directly by his ear in barely more than a whisper because that's about all I could currently get out.

"Are you mental? We're almost there!" He shouted over the wind and I nearly cried as the broomstick gave a lurch.

"James, please." I begged desperately and I could hear my voice crack. The next thing I knew, tears were running relentlessly down my face and I could do nothing to stop them.

He must've heard something off too because I instantly felt us begin losing height but I still felt like I was on the verge of passing out.

The descent felt like it took years and I could barely register the fact that James was yelling something back to me. I had no idea what he was saying because all I could focus on was trying to keep myself from throwing up all over the back of his head.

At last, I felt my feet hit the ground and I immediately fell off of the broom and onto to my hands and knees, not giving a shit that I was getting mud caked into my leggings. My body shook as I clutched the grass with my fingers, feeling the sobs rack through me.

I felt humiliated and ashamed that he witnessing me so weak and vulnerable. My nails dug into the earth as I kept failing at my attempts to steady my breathing. "Moseley?" I heard James' voice say but it sounded a lot further away than where I knew he actually was. "Moseley?" He repeated sounding cautious and I glanced up at him.

He was standing barely two feet away, clutching the broomstick in his hand. His hair stood up

in all different angles, looking even more messy than usual from just getting done from flying. His golden eyes blazed and he was staring at me as if I was about to shatter into a thousand pieces.

It was too much for me to handle, too much for me to take in, so I ran, ignoring and leaving his incredibly confused face behind. The absolute last thing I wanted was for him to think I was some kind of fragile, breakable little girl that can't handle herself and I wasn't doing a very good job of proving otherwise. The only purpose I had was to get as far away from him as possible, somewhere where I could be alone, which led me directly into the Forbidden Forest. My breathing was sharp in my chest and my legs ached, but I kept pushing on, driven by the fact that I couldn't be seen looking and acting the way I was.

I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I mean, what sane person goes running into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night? Then again, at the particular moment I felt crazed, embarrassed, and terrified, but most certainly not sane.

I could hear the sticks snap and leaves crunch beneath my boots as I dodged the thickening trees as the forest became more and more dense and I began to lose track of how far I was actually going. I didn't stop until I reached a practically miniscule clearing and I all but collapsed to the ground.

I fell flat on my back and covered my face with my arms. My skin felt like ice unlike my lungs which felt like they were on fire. I had experience with panic attacks in the past like when I was a little kid, but this was the first one that I had since I was about eight. My healer used to tell me to pretend I was a little boat floating down a river to calm myself down.

It started to work until I realized that one does not normally hear footsteps while on a boat in the middle of a river. I was in the middle of the fucking Forbidden Forest with more deadly creatures in it than nice ones yet I deemed it acceptable to remain lying helpless on the ground as the footsteps got louder and louder.

"ARE. YOU. MAD?" James' voice heaved, sounding out of breath as he entered the clearing but I kept my arms plastered to my face and groaned.

"Go away." I spoke emotionlessly, praying that he'd actually listen to me for once.

"I always knew you were a bit mental, but this just took it to a whole new level."

Alas, I suppose that was too much to ask for.

"How did you even find me?" I asked with my arms still covering my face and my voice sounded sniffly and there was absolutely no hiding that I had just been crying.

If it was possible to die of shame then I'd be buried six feet underground with worms eating away at my rotting corpse.

"It wasn't hard to follow the sound of your hyperventilating." He grumbled irritably and I heard more twigs and branches snap as he made his way toward me. I didn't say anything and my breathing was still coming out in rough, harsh sounds. I could feel his presence next to me and I knew he was lying down now too. "Moseley, what was that?" He asked, his voice a lot softer than I expected.

I almost didn't respond but instead I sighed and removed my arms from my face. "I have a crippling fear of heights." I revealed, refusing to look at him.

"That would have been nice to know before I forced you on a broomstick." He said quietly and he sounded like he felt almost guilty which I didn't even know was possible.

"You really think I was going to tell a quidditch playing _Gryffindor_ that the thought of flying gives me anxiety?"

"Everyone is afraid of something."

My head turned toward him so I could see his face. He was on his back next to me, looking up at the tops of the trees. "What are you afraid of?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Why are you afraid of heights?" He replied, avoiding answering. It was a weird question. I mean, why was anyone afraid of anything? But it was true that I hadn't always been afraid of heights.

I cleared my throat a little bit and I found myself awkwardly responding, not really understanding why. "My, uh, my mum left when I was about three and I didn't really get at that time that she wasn't coming back. It hit when I was like six I think when my dad finally sat me down and told me she wasn't coming home and I started having these really weird dreams. Nightmares, actually." I could feel his eyes on me and I closed mine and swallowed. "I would be flying after her or chasing after her and then she'd just disappear. And I'd fall, hundreds of feet, and not wake up until a split second before I hit the ground." I felt my chest tighten with anxiety as I recalled the dreams. "My dad had to put me in a different wing of our house because my screaming would keep him up." I admitted, laughing in a hollow sort of way. "I used to actually really enjoy flying. I had a toy broom that I would spend hours on. Now I can't even watch a live quidditch match without feeling anxious."

I was embarrassed that I just rambled for probably way too long but I was more embarrassed that I just told him so much about myself. I didn't divulge deeply personal information about myself...Like ever. And now James Potter knew one of my most hidden secrets and he was looking at me in an unreadable way. That was the most frustrating thing about him. I couldn't read him. With my mates, it was easy. With the exception of Scorpius from time to time, I could tell all of their moods and typically what they were thinking the second I laid eyes on them. James was a mystery. A frustrating, puzzling mystery.

"I never understood why I'd never see you at the matches whenever Slytherin played. I thought it was just because you hated quidditch or had no one to go with." He said and his voice was weirdly delicate. "Makes more sense now I guess."

"I went to Silas' first game when he was in second year. He ended up getting hit with a bludger and practically fell off his broom. I couldn't breathe after watching it and a fifth year had to run me to the hospital wing. After that none of my friends even _let_ me go to the matches."

"When was the last time you flew before tonight?" James asked and I almost laughed.

"Silas forced me on a broom when I was ten. He just couldn't comprehend how someone didn't like to fly. He was a lot bigger than me at the time so I didn't really have much of a choice. I ended up passing out at ten feet off the ground and broke my arm and three fingers." To this day I still remind him of that story whenever I need him to do something for me. Works every time.

"Flying lessons first year?"

"My dad wrote a note to Hooch so I didn't have to participate." I explained. "Silas told everyone that I was sick so that way no one had to know about me being too scared to fly." I paused for a second to look at him. "Slytherins don't like to show weaknesses." I said quietly.

"That's one thing you lot have in common with Gryffindors." He muttered with a sigh and then turned his head back up to the tops of the trees. "I'm sorry for making you fly. If I would've known I wouldn't have-"

"I didn't tell you and I'm the one that got on the back of that broomstick." I said, cutting him off. "I don't blame you for it."

He gave a little nod but I could tell he still felt bad about it. That was definitely a Gryffindor thing. Feeling guilty for stuff that isn't your fault.

It was quiet for a little bit before I broke the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"I have a feeling you'll probably ask me anyway so yes."

I waited a moment before opening my mouth to ask the question that I had been wondering about since that Care of Magical Creatures lesson. "Who did you see die?"

He looked confused for a second and then realization hit his face. "Thestrals?" He asked and I nodded. He took a deep breath as if he was debating whether or not he wanted to respond.

"Alright so you know how Freddie is quite possibly the most irritating person on the planet?" He began and I snorted in agreement. "Right, well when we were kids it was ten times worse. He never shut up and before Hogwarts he was difficult as hell to be around so I had a different best friend, Ethan. Our mums played on the Harpies together and wound up getting pregnant around the same time so we were pretty much mates since birth." I already didn't like where the story was going but I was too selfish to tell him to stop.

"Every year my parents used to rent a house on this little lake in a magical community in Wales. I brought Ethan each summer and we knew the rules. _'Don't go in the lake without an adult there.'_ We were eight when it happened. It was the hottest day of the summer and we didn't feel like waiting for my parents to come out with Lily and Albus. I guess we both thought we were old enough to go in by ourselves." He stopped for a second before continuing, his voice more somber. "Ethan jumped off the pier first and when he didn't come straight back up I didn't understand what was happening. I thought he was just messing with me or something so I didn't think much of it. I stared at the water for a solid minute, waiting, before jumping in after him and as soon I touched the water the grindylows grabbed me." He said and my stomach felt sick at the strangled way his words came out. "My dad saved me before they could kill me but it was too late for him."

I was shocked I had never heard anyone talk about it. I mean, Harry Potter's son almost drowning before Harry Potter himself saved him but was too late to save a Holyhead Harpies player's son? That just screamed big news story.

"It wasn't in the press or anything because my mum threatened just about everyone she could within an inch of their lives if they dared to print it." He said as if reading my mind. "She didn't want me to have to hear it all over the radio and the WT and she wanted his family to be able to grieve in peace. Ethan was their only kid, you see."

I had no idea what to say or do. If it was Cyrus I would've held his hand or played with his hair or something but this was James and I was at a loss. "I'm sorry," was all I could come up with. And I was. My heart ached for him because I couldn't even image.

"Happened ages ago." He muttered quietly and gave a tiny shrug.

"Doesn't make it any less shitty." I said gently. "I shouldn't have brought it up. I just wanted to know."

"Why?" He questioned, looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Why what?"

"Why did you want to know?" His tone wasn't accusatory, merely curious.

"I don't know honestly." I responded truthfully. "I just feel like I know nothing about you other than the fact you're unreasonably overprotective of your female relatives and that you're a good shag."

He gave a little smirk but didn't say anything at first. "I think I want to be a healer. Everyone is expecting me to play pro quidditch but I think that's more for Lily than it is for me. I know I'd actually have to work to be a healer whereas with quidditch or being an auror I'd get in on my last name alone." He said suddenly and then continued. "I have little grey kitten named Phyllis that I found on my porch this past summer and she sleeps on my pillow every night. I lost my virginity to a muggle girl that lived down down the street from me when I was fifteen. If you get me drunk enough, I will _always_ sing karaoke even though Freddie tells me I sound like a dying whale. And I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to disappoint my dad." He finished and I stared at him incredulously for a few seconds before I bursted out laughing.

"You lost your virginity to a _muggle_?!"

"Piss off," He grinned, shoving me playfully. "She was fit and I had had a crush on her since I was eleven."

"How utterly adorable," I teased, still shaking with laughter. "Where'd you do it? On a picnic blanket after you watched the stars together?"

"Back of her dad's car actually." He admitted with a smirk and elbowed me lightly when I laughed even harder. "Okay, okay your turn."

"Oh no," I said, shaking my head. "I already told you enough about myself for tonight."

"You got the death of my childhood best mate and my virginity story." He pointed out with a raised eyebrow and I sighed reluctantly, knowing I had no choice.

"I have no idea what I want to do after Hogwarts." I admitted. "I get decent enough marks but Defense is the only thing that I truly excel at. I've thought about being an auror but it's next to impossible to get into the program as a Slytherin with a pureblood last name. I've stayed at school during Christmas with Silas four times just so we could avoid our family. My ultimate guilty pleasure is that wizard boyband, Wand Direction, and I know every lyric to every song and I'm only mildly ashamed. I have nothing against muggles but they terrify me a little bit because I don't understand them." I paused and looked at him. "I asked to be in Slytherin." I said quietly. "Before the hat could suggest anything else I told it to put me in a Slytherin because I didn't want to be without my step brother. I don't regret that decision but to this day I still don't know if I belong somewhere else."

Scorpius is the only person I had ever told that before because he too had requested Slytherin house.

"Do _you_ think you belong anywhere else?" James questioned and I had to think about it.

"I'm not sure honestly. I'm too much of a bitch to be in Hufflepuff, not studious enough to be in Ravenclaw, and not brave enough to be in Gryffindor but I still don't know."

"I was a wreck the day of Sorting." James said in a low voice. "I was so terrified I wouldn't get Gryffindor. My entire family had been in that house and to be somewhere else seemed like a crime. It didn't help that I was the first of the Potter kids so everyone was staring at me when I walked in the Great Hall."

I remembered that day. Everyone, including myself, was trying to get a good look at the Chosen One's kid. "Turns out I didn't have much to worry about and the hat put me in Gryffindor right away. I think my knees almost gave out when it made the announcement. Fred obviously got Gryffindor as well almost right after but our other cousin, Molly, got Ravenclaw. She's the first non Gryffindor in generations and I remember pitying her yet I was twistedly happy about it at the same time because it meant that I didn't have to have to be the family disappointment." He gave a little laugh. "Not that _Molly_ could ever be the disappointment. She's without a doubt the smartest person I know and Head Girl."

I noted the tone of affection in his voice whenever he spoke about his family and I wondered what it was like to have one of his size so I asked him. He explained how it was overwhelming to try and keep up with everyone but for the most part he liked it and I could tell he loved all of them to pieces as he told me about them.

Victoire, the oldest, was married to his god-brother, Teddy, and they just had a baby boy that they called Will. Dominique was Victoire's younger sister and she graduated two years ago and her modeling career was supposedly taking off. She'd just signed a contract with Witch Weekly and apparently talked endlessly about it. Albus was great at quidditch but didn't put in enough practice to ever make it a future. James said that he was similar to himself in a lot of ways but apparently a lot more easy going. Louis and Roxanne, both Gryffindor fifth years, had always been attached at the hip and were by far the closest pair of cousins in the family including James and Fred. Louis slept with anything that moved and Roxanne was stunningly gorgeous and always had dates that Fred made his mission to end before they ever started. Hugo was Rose's little brother that was obsessed with muggles and had dreams to become Hogwarts' future Muggle Studies professor when he got older. Lucy, Molly's little sister, was the youngest of all the Wotter children and she'd be starting Hogwarts in two years. As the baby, she got spoiled rotten. The entire family was guilty of giving her whatever she asked for, including James who said that she was the cutest kid to walk the planet.

He spoke of them all in such an animated way and I don't think he realized that he was rambling. I liked it though. It was fascinating for me to hear about them all. With my mum gone and my dad barely existent, the idea of living in a family like that seemed mental. I had Silas, of course, and Scorpius, but they weren't blood. Ava was a brat and I felt no connection to her other than the fact that we had the same nose. I had cousins of course, but they were all older and talked of nothing other than ministry politics and pureblood values.

He talked for a while and then _we_ talked for awhile and it was strange. We didn't usually 'talk'. We argued and we disagreed. But this was different. We were alone and not like when we were alone around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade when we always had to worry about other people seeing us. We were truly alone and it was easier. It was nice actually. For the night, we weren't Gryffindor and Slytherin. We were just Jordan and James.

A/N: Hiii everyone. So I've been really excited about this chapter for a _really_ long time. I've literally had that flying scene written for about a year now and I've had this chapter in mind since the beginning so I'm more than happy that I finally finished it. I ended up bringing up bringing back Lily a little earlier than planned because I adore her so much. I hope you liked the better insight that you got into James' character and learning more about him. The end of the chapter was so fluffy and I loved writing it. I'm dying to know what you all think. What's your opinion on the Fred/Allison situation? What do you think about Jordan's friend's reactions to Hazel's date or lack there of? And thoughts on sneaky Rose and Scorpius? Favorite parts of the chapter? Predictions? Anything? Please, please review and let me know! Love you all xx

(ALSO, I can't take credit for Fred's pick-up line. I found that on Buzzfeed (which I do not own btw))


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up the next morning with a stick poking me in the back and an ant crawling on my hand. It was late, really late, when James and I had finally fallen asleep. We were both too tired to walk back to the castle so we had conjured a few blankets and pillows and cast a protection charm around us to make sure we didn't get trampled by centaurs in the middle of the night.

I blinked my eyes open a few times to get used to the light and I realized that I was alone. In James' place next me was his invisibility cloak, folded up neatly along with a lovely note that said ' _You look like hell and probably should avoid the general public.'_ I was pleasantly surprised that he trusted me enough to leave me with the cloak. I was a bit pissed about the looking like hell comment though but after the broom ride and sleeping outside, it was probably very true.

All the tangles in my hair would be next to impossible to get out and I knew my clothes and skin were most likely dirty as hell from being on the forest floor before we thought about blankets. My body was stiff but I managed to heave myself off the ground so I could start the long walk back to my dormitory and I threw the cloak on when I reached the outskirts of the forest. When I got closer to the castle, I could see the quidditch pitch in the distance and I noted figures in red flying around which explained why James left so early.

By the way the castle was so dead, I could tell it was going to be a lazy Sunday morning. It was typically like this after a Hogsmeade day. Normally 3rd Years and up didn't emerge from their beds until lunch so I didn't really have to worry about almost running into anyone on my way to the dungeons.

Izzy had her face planted into her pillow and Cassie and Astrid were gone when I got to my room. Hazel's bed was empty so I took the opportunity to stash the invisibility cloak underneath my bed. I started to peel off my boots when the door to the bathroom opened and Hazel jumped about a foot in the air in surprise at the sight of me.

"What in the hell happened to you?" She gasped, putting a hand on her chest, most likely in an attempt to stop the heart attack she was currently having. She was still in her sleep clothes which consisted of sweatpants about nine sizes too big for her and an oversized tee shirt with a unicorn on it.

I didn't really have a good way of explaining myself. I was still wearing my all black secret agent, ninja outfit and I'm pretty sure there was multiple twigs sticking out of my hair. I had to make up something relatively believable which led me to saying, "I got drunk last night, missed the last carriage, and passed out on my walk back to the castle."

"Jordan!" She scolded and I flinched ever so slightly. The usage of my first name meant that she was disappointed in me. I was Mose or Jord to her. Silas and occasionally Cyrus were the only ones that ever called me by my first name.

"Keep the judging to a minimum, please." I begged as I threw my boots in the direction of my trunk. They landed with a light thud that caused Izzy to stir slightly before falling straight back to sleep. "It was a long night and I really need a shower."

"But that's like not good, okay?" Hazel sighed and sat on the edge of my bed while I stripped off the rest of my clothes. "Were you drinking by yourself?"

I gave her a look. "I have other friends, you know."

"You do?" She snorted. She didn't say it to be mean. She just genuinely didn't think I interacted with anyone outside our small friend group as well as potential hookups. That much was true until Wotters started appearing annoyingly often in my life.

"Kind of." My nose wrinkled and she narrowed her eyes at me, looking confused. "I'm going get cleaned up and then brunch?"

Hazel sighed but nodded. After I took the longest shower of my life, I piled my wet hair into a messy bun and threw on a Slytherin crewneck of Cyrus' and a pair of leggings. I left Hazel in charge of enlisting the boys to come with us but she emerged from their side with only Scorpius.

"Silas, Mitch, and Cyrus were all still sleeping." She explained when I raised an eyebrow.

"Weak." I muttered with a shake of my head. If it would have been me, I would've dragged their lazy asses out of bed. She did manage to get Scorpius though which was a feat in itself.

The Great Hall was nearly empty which was exactly what I needed because it meant endless amounts of pancakes and waffles. "How was your interview?" Hazel asked Scorpius as we settled down at our usual spot at the Slytherin table.

My head lifted from pouring myself some tea to give Scorpius an interested look. He shrugged. "The interviewer knew about my family's past so I don't think I ever really stood a chance." He said with a forced solemn expression that caused Hazel to look at him in a pitying way and I resisted an eyeroll at the fact that he was using his family's reputation to lie through his teeth.

I couldn't exactly show any sign of irritation though considering he didn't know I spent the better half of my Hogsmeade trip stalking the shit out of him. "Ask my dad about internships at St. Mungo's." I suggested as I blew lightly on my scalding cup of tea. "I'm sure he'd be able to help you out."

Scorpius nodded in thanks and then cocked his head to the side slightly in curiousity. "Did you ever end up going to Hogsmeade?" He asked and the invisibility cloak must've done the trick because he seemed like he genuinely didn't know. "I didn't see you around after my interview."

"I went for a little but got bored and came back early." I said, not looking at him in the eye, as I drowned my food in syrup. Now I was the one lying through my teeth and I could feel Hazel's gaze on me but she kept her mouth shut so I was thankful for that.

Hazel, uncomfortable with having to keep a secret, changed the subject back to internships. As they discussed the boring topic of location possibilities for curse breaking, the Gryffindor quidditch team walked in, looking sweaty and clutching their broomsticks. Both Fred and James' eyes met mine and Fred mouthed the word ' _coin_ ' to me, meaning that they wanted to see me later and I needed to check time and location on my charmed galleon.

I smirked and tugged twice on my ear, mocking Allison Reed and his secret shagging signal. He looked amused but subtly flicked me off while James looked like he was struggling to keep himself from laughing.

I pressed my lips together in a failed attempt to hide my smile that Scorpius and Hazel were thankfully too involved in their conversation to notice. When we finished, they headed to the library because only freaks like them would spend Sunday studying. I walked back to the Slytherin dorms alone and took the opportunity to pull the coin out from underneath a stack of books on my nightstand. It apparently had become so hot when they changed the time and location that it burned a hole on the bottom of my Transfiguration textbook.

' _Midnight. Kitchens.'_ It read and I tucked it in my pocket in case anything changed.

Since midnight was forever far away, I crossed over to the boy's dorm for some entertainment. Silas, Mitch, and Cyrus were finally awake and, having missed brunch, were eating Pumpkin Pasties and chocolate frogs as their source of morning nourishment. They mumbled hello's and I sat on the end of Silas' bed despite the fact that Scorpius' bed was empty, mostly because I knew Scorpius would kill me if I wrinkled his perfectly ironed sheets.

"How was Hogsmeade?" My brother asked as I snagged a chocolate frog from his pile. I shrugged and avoided eye contact.

"How was practice?" I asked, changing the subject before that conversation could go any further. I wasn't really up for dodging questions.

Silas didn't have time to respond because Cyrus answered for him. "Miserable. Si decided that it had to be an all day event. By the time we got done it wasn't even worth trying to get an evening drink at The Crystal Ball."

"The day wasn't a complete waste though." Mitch said cheerfully as he shoved a Pumpkin Pasty in his mouth. "I still managed to get a shag in. Did you lot know that Hufflepuffs are actually a decent fuck? Who would've thought."

Silas grumbled in irritation because he was having sex with a Hufflepuff for months and we took the piss out of him constantly for it.

"What Hufflepuff did you shag?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. I didn't know why I asked, considering I found Mitch's sexual partners typically disturbing but I was curious.

"Melanie Grant." He said with a great big grin. "She was flying around the pitch as our practice was ending and we did it in the locker room."

"Doesn't she play quidditch?" My head turned to Silas. "How come he's allowed to shag the enemy but Hazel can't go on a simple date?"

Silas was cut off from responding once again but this time by Mitch. "Shagging before quidditch makes girls worse players. They get distracted and too emotionally attached. It makes blokes better. Gives them confidence." He explained stupidly and I rolled my eyes.

"That's the most idiotically sexist thing I've ever heard." I snapped and threw a pillow at his head that he easily dodged. "And that's saying a lot because you say idiotically sexist things on an hourly basis."

"I actually kind of have to have to agree with Mitch once this one." Cyrus said and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't give me that look. Every time you shagged me the morning of a match, I'd score triple as many points than normal."

" _That's_ why you were so good all of last year?" Silas exclaimed in a half strangled way and Cyrus just smirked and shrugged in response. Silas was looking back and forth between the two of us with conflicted expression on his face, like he was debating if winning was worth Cyrus shagging me. He eventually shook his head with a very nauseated look on his face so it was clear he made up his mind on that.

"Putting aside the moronic idea that shagging effects quidditch ability, who said Hazel was even going to have sex with him in the first place?" I pointed out reasonably. "She's still a virgin. She'd never sleep with someone after the first date."

"That's a risk we can't take." Mitch insisted and Silas and Cyrus nodded in agreement.

"You three are dumbest creatures I've ever had the misfortune of meeting." I told them earnestly but they didn't seem all that bothered by it. In fact they ignored me and went on to discuss which house was the best shag.

Well, it was mostly Mitch actually because Silas has only ever had sex with his first girlfriend, Cora from Hufflepuff, and Cyrus only ever had sex with me and then a girl that went to Beauxbatons that he met in France this past summer.

"Ravenclaws are pretty good but are too serious, you know? They don't let themselves fully enjoy it." Mitch said causing Cyrus to snort and me to roll my eyes but he went on anyway. "Slytherins are a hit or a miss. Like Mose, according to Cy, you're a great lay but then there's girls like Lynn Bentley that you might as well be screwing an inflatable doll."

"When did you shag Lynn Bentley?" Silas asked, sounding relatively impressed and I narrowed my eyes at him because his tone was going to give Mitch some sort of sick satisfaction that he didn't need. I had to hand it to him though, Lynn Bentley was practically the queen of Slytherin before she graduated two years ago. She was undeniably gorgeous, wicked smart, and had all the proper traits that a Slytherin should possess. AKA, she was somewhat of an evil bitch but in the best way possible.

"End of fifth year. You'd think as a seventh year she would have a bit more experience but she was horrendous in bed...Well, in shower actually. I was sort of embarrassed for her by the end of it to be honest." Silas and Cyrus were both giving him incredibly disbelieving looks to which he ignored and continued. "And then Gryffindors are just too dominate. It's sort of emasculating."

"When did you sleep with a Gryffindor?" I questioned, unable to stop myself. Besides snogging, I thought Gryffindors were uncharted territory when it came to our group. Well, except for me, I guess. And Scorpius if he and Rose had gone that far which I prayed they hadn't.

"Last year at some point." Mitch said, shrugging. "I was drunk when it happened or else I wouldn't have stooped so low as to shag someone from that house. I can't even remember her name. I think it was Lauren but it could've been Laurel." He shrugged again, not seeming too concerned about it. "No idea honestly."

"I never know if admiration or disgust is the proper response for whenever you talk about the girls you hook up with." Silas said looking at Mitch with a befuddled expression.

"Admiration, Silas darling." He responded in a self satisfied way. "You could learn something from me. You need to get laid more."

"He's quidditch captain. He should already be getting laid." Cyrus said from his bed and he looked over at Silas. "Mate, no offence, but you're not taking advantage of the badge nearly as much as you should."

Silas frowned and I snorted. "You act as if being quidditch captain makes girls immediately flock and start taking off their clothes." I muttered giving him a look that conveyed how idiotic I considered that thought process was.

"It _should_." Cyrus said as if it was obvious. "I mean look at Potter. As much as I hate the bloke, he could have any girl at the snap of his fingers." I pressed my lips together in a hard line. I think he failed to realize that James Potter could have any girl at the snap of his fingers because he was uncommonly attractive with a perfectly toned body and he was, you know, _James bloody Potter_.

"Well he also has the whole 'savior of the Wizarding World's son' thing going for him too so that's a rather unfair comparison, don't you think?" Silas muttered irritably, clearly not liking where this conversation was going.

"Okay true, but then there's Liam Lucas too." Cyrus continued, not wanting to drop it. "He's _Hufflepuff's_ captain and even he managed to get Hazel to snog him and agree to a date with him."

"That you guys fucked up for her." I mumbled under my breath which they all pretended not to hear and ignored.

"Cyrus is right, mate." Mitch interjected. "You need to get yourself out there."

Silas opened his mouth to respond but I cut him off. "Oh leave him alone, won't you?" I huffed defensively and Silas shot me a grateful look while Cyrus and Mitch looked like I was ruining their fun.

"Yes, _thank you_ , now can we please change the conversation to something else that doesn't involve the lack of action that I get?" Silas muttered, sounding highly annoyed.

"Fine, what would _you_ like to talk about, Si?' Mitch asked, sitting up on his bed and folding his hands in his lap in an attentively patronizing way.

"What do you think about the Kestrels new Chaser?" Silas asked them both, ignoring Mitch's sarcasm, and I groaned as they started in on a quidditch conversation that would most definitely not end for another few hours.

I heaved myself off of Silas' bed to sneak over to Cyrus' bedside table where he had three nicely rolled joints and an excessive collection of lighters tucked inside the drawer. I snagged one and planted myself down at the foot of his bed. He attempted to take the now lit joint away from me so he could take a hit but I swatted his hand away. "Fuck off back to your boring quidditch conversation. This is mine."

"You do realize that that's _my_ weed, right?" He said as he tried to reach for it again and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be stingy, Cyrus. It's not an attractive quality in a man."

"Says the girl that won't let me have a hit." He said with a pout that made me soften just a tad.

"You get a hit if you get off the bed so I can take a nap after I'm done with this." I proposed as I eyed the exact spot where he was currently sitting at the top of his bed. Cyrus' bed was by far one of my favorite places. Mostly because being in it usually involved sex but also because he had those pillows that formed to the shape of your head and they were simply lovely.

"Get up here, you loser." He sighed and scooted over a bit, giving me enough room so I could lay against him. I grinned, handed him the j, and jumped next to him. Even if I didn't get to utilize the pillow, Cyrus' chest was a close second.

"Oh c'mon," Silas grumbled when he saw us. He and Mitch had finally broken off from their quidditch discussion to notice Cyrus with his arm casually holding me against him and me almost completely on top of him.

"Chill." I said dully with an eye roll as Cyrus passed me the joint again. "You act like we'd ever shag with you two sitting four feet away."

"Would you like us to leave then? Give you two some privacy?" Mitch suggested jokingly with a grin and turned his head to my brother. "You don't mind, do you Si?"

Silas glared at Mitch in response for half a second before shifting his glare back to Cyrus and me. "No funny business."

"No promises," Cyrus said cheekily just to anger him further and I snorted. Silas threw a pillow at us that Cyrus punched out of the way before it could nail me in the head and I flicked him off.

"I'm staying here the rest of the day." He informed the pair of us and if my eyes hadn't been shut they would've rolled to the top of my head.

James and Fred were already in the kitchens by the time I got a little after midnight. James' back was toward me and Fred's smile widened when he saw me come in and he gave me a little salute in greeting. "The house elves are preparing pancakes as we speak," He informed me cheerfully as I took a seat on the bench next to James.

"It scares me how well you know me already, Weasley." I said though a massive grin spread across my face at the prospect of pancakes.

"And yet we're still on a last name basis." Fred said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "C'mon now, we're past that. Don't you think, Mose?"

I was vaguely taken aback by the usage of my nickname. It sounded foreign coming from him since the only people that called me Mose were my close friends. I pursed my lips as I considered the way his puppy eyes were looking at me hopefully. As much as I didn't like to admit it, I did weirdly think of Fred as a friend and I trusted him for some odd reason. I glanced at James who had an amused smile on his face and I realized that, after last night, I trusted him too. "I'll allow it."

Fred's face lit up like a little kid who was told that Christmas had come early. He looked like he wanted to hug me so I quickly changed the subject. "Spying?" I questioned when I noticed they had the map spread across the table in front of them.

"Seeing how many couples are currently hooking up." Fred corrected. "You can tell what how far they are getting and what position they are in by the way they feet are angled."

"Sounds interesting," I said as my eyes scanned the map, trying to spot one myself. "Anyone so far?"

"A pair of Hufflepuff blokes that until ten minutes ago I thought were straight and our cousin Molly and her boyfriend in the prefect's bathroom." James said and I snorted.

"Is that why there's a cup of tea covering that particular section of the map?"

"Persicily."

"I'm surprised you two haven't stormed up there and castrated him yet."

"Davies may be pretentious as hell but he's a pretty good guy and I trust Molly to know what's best for her." James said with a little shrug and I raised an eyebrow at how nonchalant he suddenly was at the thought of his female relative getting it on while she should've been doing rounds.

"Yet you don't trust Lily or Rose when it comes to their choice in men?" I asked, referring to the death glares that he almost always shot Rory and how he partnered up with a Slytherin of all people specifically to destroy the blossoming relationship Rose had with Scorpius.

The house elves began placing about ten different plates in front of us full of waffles, pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, and sausages while James considered what I said. "It's not that I don't trust them. I don't trust the fact that Rory is two years older than Lily and that Malfoy is always sulking around looking like he just murdered some puppies."

I frowned at that. Scorpius loved puppies.

"He's also leaving out that when Molly and Davies started dating, he tried to interfere and Molly set his broomstick on fire and then hexed him four times." Fred informed me and I grinned at the irritated looking expression that unfurled on James' face. "I reckon he's too scared of her to try and break them up."

"I'm not scared of her." James insisted but his tone said otherwise.

I lifted the cup of tea to take a peek at the couple underneath. "How boring. Looks like it could be missionary." I said with a smirk. They both instantly looked like they wanted to retch. I glanced down at the map again and the placement of the feet suddenly changed. "Oh wait, looks like Molly is on top now. Good for her for taking control."

"Oh god, now I'm picturing it." Fred said, looking disgusted.

"Cheers Moseley, you've provided an image and now I can't enjoy my waffles." James grumbled and shoved his plate away from him.

"Oh please, you can always enjoy waffles." I rolled my eyes and then gave him a devious look. "Just try not to focus on the fact that Davies is currently plowing your lovely, doe eyed cousin that you've both known since infancy."

They both slammed their heads on the table and I grinned and cheerfully popped a piece of bacon in my mouth.

"I'm going to burn the map." James announced and Fred let out a grunt of agreement.

"That won't change the fact that Davies is making sweet, sweet love to-"

I was cut off by someone's lips being smashed against my own. As soon as I registered the fact that Fred Weasley had the nerve to kiss me, I shoved him off with such force that he almost toppled off the bench. "What the fuck?" James and I yelled in unison while I wiped off the fruity taste on my mouth with the back of my hand.

Fred didn't look the least bit sheepish. "I needed to shut you up somehow!" He exclaimed defensively as if that excused it. I stared at him incredulously. James, who seemed to get over the shock of his cousin trying to snog me, bursted out laughing from beside me.

"This is not funny," I said sharply, giving James a dirty look that didn't seem to curb his amusement. He was clutching his stomach from laughing so hard and if he didn't look so attractive while doing so I probably would've slammed his head into his plate of waffles. I turned back to Fred who was back to nonchalantly shoving french toast into his face. "Why do your lips taste like mangos?" I snapped at him, giving him a harsh kick from under the table.

"I use lip balm. I'm not an animal." He responded easily and then stuck an entire sausage in his mouth.

"You two are collectively the worst people that I've ever met." I informed them both. James had stopped laughing but was pressing his lips together as if he might start again at any moment.

"Yet you've now kissed us both." Fred pointed out, wagging a second piece of sausage at me with his fork. He got a devilish grin on his face. "Who was better snog, Mose?"

I almost kicked him again but decided against it. "Well I was sloppy drunk when I snogged him and you forced yourself on me against my will so it's kind of difficult to judge." I muttered stubbornly and folded my arms across my chest.

"Oh c'mon, we may have been piss drunk but I still have to easily outrank him," James said and gestured to Fred who had bulging cheeks and syrup dripping down his chin. He had a fair point but I wasn't going to admit that despite our drunken state he was the best snog and shag of my life.

"Your lips didn't taste like mangos though." I said fairly. "They tasted like whiskey and regret."

James looked offended which satisfied me while Fred looked thrilled, thinking he had won. "Yes! Up top, Mose!" He exclaimed, holding out his hand for a high five. I sneered at his palm until he lowered it dejectedly.

"Sorry, Fred. He still wins." I announced, jerking my head in the direction of James who appeared pleased at my decision.

Fred didn't look sad though. Instead he was clutching his chest as if he was deeply touched. "You called me Fred! Does that mean I'm officially your mate? Did trying to snog you make me one of your mates? Do we get to have a friendship ceremony? I can make us matching bracelets if you'd like-"

I all but leaped across the table, grabbed him by the shirt, and planted my mouth on his. James started choking and after a few seconds I pushed Fred away from me once again. "That really does work." I said and grinned at the surprised looked on Fred's face as I slammed a hand on James' back to get him to stop dying.

"If this is going to be a regular thing, I may have to tell Allison that I'm snogging someone else on the side."

"She has a boyfriend, mate," James reminded him after he recovered from his choking episode and I snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think you have to feel guilty for anything." I said and shook my head at the thought of his and Allison's weird, twisted relationship. Then again, we had both just snogged each other merely to shut one another up so who am I to judge.

"Very true and while I was about to ask if you wanted to have another go perhaps in the broom closet where you and James consummated your relationship, I have to point out that your mates are headed in the direction of the kitchens and we're about to get fucked and not in a good way." Fred said, his eyes trained on the map that was still spread across the table, pointing to Cyrus and Mitch's names that were closing in on the door to the kitchen.

My eyes widened and I dove for the map. "Shit!" I hissed while James and Fred sprang into action. Fred banished all the food and jumped over the table while James shoved the map into his pocket and grabbed me from behind to pull me off to the corner. He managed to throw the invisibility cloak over the three of us less than two seconds before the door burst open to reveal my best mates. As soon as I saw them both I knew they were stoned so it wasn't at all surprising that they wandered down to the kitchens in the middle of the night.

"I just think that it's a bit unreasonable that she won't give me her Potions notes." Mitch was saying to Cyrus as they walked in.

"And why's that?" Cyrus asked, humoring him, because it was clear by his expression that he didn't have an actual interest in whatever Mitch was whining about.

"Because we're mates!" He cried indignantly. "And mates help each other out. She is not currently giving anything to the friendship."

"And what do you give to the friendship?" Cyrus questioned fairly as he beckoned a sleepy house elf over so they could order their late night munchie snack.

"Fun conversation and a handsome face to look at."

I scoffed quietly from under the invisibility cloak and Cyrus snorted. "I don't think Hazel considers your constant perverted jokes 'fun conversation'. And you're not that pretty."

Mitch chose to ignore that and continued on with his rant. "She has fifteen pages of notes and she won't even let me _look_ at them! How unfair is that? And she wouldn't even tell us why Mose has been acting so sketchy lately."

I rolled my eyes and Fred chuckled quietly from behind me.

"She hasn't been acting _that_ sketchy." Cyrus said as he played absentmindedly with the strings of his navy blue hoodie. "At least no more sketchy than normal."

"Since when does she go to bed before midnight and pass up on a late night j?" Mitch questioned and Cyrus shrugged not seeming all that bothered by it. Mitch was frustrating to no end because he could be completely oblivious to some things (like Hazel's love for him) but unbelievably observant at the same time.

"You guys haven't been screwing around again, have you?" Mitch pressed. He had an easy grin on his face as if he was teasing but I knew, and Cyrus knew, that he actually seriously wanted to know. If he found out that we were shagging again in secret he would be uncharacteristically furious.

"You know we haven't fucked in months," Cyrus said with an eyeroll as he sat down on one of the benches. "The last time was a few weeks after Rose Weasley blurted to the Great Hall about us." He shrugged. "It was like our breakup shag or whatever you want to call it."

"How romantic." Mitch cooed patronizingly and Cyrus shoved him.

"Fuck off. You know there wasn't anything going on. It was just sex."

"I know, I'm just taking a piss." Mitch grinned and then snorted. "Besides, it's not like Mose is capable of anything other than just sex."

I cringed and dug my fingers in my hair. I couldn't decide if I was more embarrassed that this conversation was happening in front of Fred and James or angry that they were taking the piss out of me behind my back.

"Oh trust me, I know." Cyrus said and smirked. "That was the best part. She never clung onto the idea of a relationship but would randomly pull me into the loo to shag whenever she got the chance."

"Classic." Mitch said as he barked out a laugh. "You know I love Mose but if she wasn't _Mose_ then she'd just be another-"

"Slag." Cyrus finished, cutting Mitch off and I sucked in a harsh breath. "Yeah, I know. With how much she got around a couple of years ago, I'm surprised she didn't get knocked up ages ago."

I couldn't even look behind me to see the expressions on James and Fred's faces. I was frozen, watching in horror and disgust as two of my best mates proved just how shitty people could be.

"She's been on that birth control potion since forever. I don't know Silas was so surprised that night during third year when she fucked three blokes."

Cyrus actually _laughed_ and I felt like I had been sucker punched. For them to bring that up… I struggled to breathe.

"Why else do you think Silas is so protective of her? I mean I get the whole sibling thing but, c'mon on. They're not actually related. He's embarrassed, simple as that. He doesn't like people sleeping with her cause he doesn't wanna be associated with the school slut." Cyrus leaned back against the table in a casual way as if he didn't just practically drive a dagger through my chest and I suddenly hated him with ever fiber of my being.

I reached for my wand but James grabbed my hand to stop me and Fred put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from lunging forward. Neither of them dropped their contact. I wasn't sure if it was a comfort thing or they were just doing it for security but I gripped James' hand as if it was a lifeline either way.

"Is that why you kept it a secret? So you wouldn't have that association either?" Mitch asked with a smirk.

"Pretty much. I don't think she minded anyone knowing but I told her that it'd be more fun sneaking around." Cyrus shrugged and for the first time I realized that he was embarrassed of me the entire year that we were hooking up.

I was saved from hearing much more as a house elf finally brought them their food that in their thankfully high state were eager to get back to the dormitory.

The door shut behind them and the kitchen became awkwardly silent. I had a strong urge to throw up. Being under the invisibility cloak suddenly felt incredible suffocating and I ripped it off our heads as I struggled to catch my breath. I stumbled over to the one of the tables as if drunk and clutched the edge of it as I tried to regain some small amount of control over myself.

I had expected it from Mitch. Mitch's comments didn't surprise me. He slut shamed me on a daily basis and normally I didn't mind because it was just _Mitch_. He was usually harmless and just an outright idiot. But Cyrus was a different story. A different story entirely. His words stung and they stabbed and they got to me. They hurt and they cut deep.

I reached for my wand and when it wasn't in my pocket, I swirled around just as Fred attempted to hide it behind his back. I hated that they were smart enough to take it from me knowing that I would be capable of doing unspeakable things if I had it.

"Give it to me." I demanded but my voice didn't sound like my voice. I sounded weak and broken and it disgusted me. I didn't and couldn't look at either of their faces. It was too humiliating.

"Fuck them." James said and I was shocked at the ferocity in his tone. It was enough for my eyes to snap up. Every inch of him seemed to be radiating fury. "Fuck everyone."

"Apparently I already have." I tried to laugh but it came out sounding hollow.

"Mose-" Fred started to say and the pitying puppy look in his eyes made me sick.

"Don't pretend that you two think any differently." I snarled. "I get it, I'm a slag. The whole school thinks so why shouldn't my best mates too?"

My voice cracked but I refused to allow myself to cry in front of James Potter two nights in a row. I looked up at the ceiling as I felt the tears start to build and I swallowed the massive lump in my throat.

"You're not invincible, Moseley." James said softly as he took a step toward me.

"I'm not broken either." I snapped. "Why do you even care?" Just yesterday he was the one at Hog's Head judging me for the choices I've made. Now that it was someone else, he suddenly forgot?

"Because you're a person." He said, golden eyes blazing, as he echoed my words from the night before. He jabbed an angry finger in the direction of the door. "And you don't deserve that shit."

"I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity, Mose." Fred insisted, looking the most serious that I had ever seen him. "We're your friends."

"So are they." I reminded him.

Fred and James exchanged looks. "Let's go get drunk." Fred suggested suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon, you need a drink." James agreed, offering a little smile in his attempt to be nice.

"No, what I need is my wand so I can go light up the Slytherin dormitory with Unforgivables." I said roughly and stuck out my hand again in the hopes that they would give it to me. I debated fighting them for it but without magic I was useless against two quidditch players.

"As much as we'd both love to see that happen, I don't think we want to lose you to Azkaban quite yet." Fred grinned and put an arm around my shoulder as he steered us out of the kitchens. I knew I wasn't going to have much of an option in their attempt to cheer me up so I decided to humor them and go with it.

James led the way, using the map to make sure we didn't have any unfortunate run-ins. It wasn't until I was met with the portrait of a sleeping obese woman that I realized that we were going to the Gryffindor Tower. I don't know where I thought we were going but I certainly didn't think they were going to bring me there.

The only other time I had been in the Gryffindor common room was the first night back where James had first suggested teaming up together. It was insane how much had changed since then. Since I was incredibly stoned then, this was the first time I was actually able to take in the common room. It was a lot warmer than Slytherin's which always had a certain chill that I had become accustomed to.

"Wait." I hissed to the pair of them and they stopped to give me confused looks. I glanced down at my crewneck that bared the Slytherin crest and pulled it over my head, thankful that I decided to wear a thin tank top underneath. I walked over to one of the fireplaces that still had a full, crackling fire and didn't think twice before I tossed the sweatshirt inside.

When I turned back around, both boys had their eyebrows raised. "It was Cyrus'." I shrugged and pushed passed them to the staircase.

"Remind me to never piss off Jordan Moseley." Fred muttered from behind me and James grunted in agreement as they followed me up the ridiculous journey to their dorm.

"Where are your roommates?" I asked when I noted the two empty beds that should've belonged to Damien Wright and Tyler Rupp.

"Damien has prefect rounds all night and typically just goes and falls asleep in the Room of Requirement and Tyler normally spends the night with his boyfriend down in the sixth year dorms." James said and I nodded. I had never seen their place in the light and was surprised at how big it was. The 7th Year dorms were always the nicest but theirs was practically luxurious. They even had a couch and my mouth dropped open when I saw that it was facing a wiz telly.

"How in the hell did you manage to sneak a WT in here?" I asked incredulously. Unlike muggle TVs, WTs were powered by magic therefore they actually worked on campus but they were strictly prohibited.

"You're looking at the son of Harry Potter, love." Fred reminded me as he swung an arm around his cousin. "He could sneak in a dragon and get away with it." I glanced at James who shrugged, knowing that that was most likely true.

"Plus it doesn't hurt that the head of Gryffindor is a family friend and we told him we'd use it to watch the Herbology channel to study for NEWTs." He added. "Mostly we just use it to watch this american show called _The Affair_." I raised an eyebrow and he continued. "It's about this woman named Octavia Poole who falls in love with the president for magic even though he's married. It's actually shockingly good and Freddie and I have a drinking game to it." He explained, only mildly sheepish, while Fred giddily held up a full bottle of firewhiskey that he had just pulled from his trunk.

I sighed. "Alright, I'm in. What're the rules?"

"Take a gulp every time Octavia wears black."

"And every time she's seen holding a beer!" Fred added as he set out shot glasses on the coffee table and threw extra blankets onto the couch.

"Oh, and a shot every time the president's wife calls Octavia a slut!" I bit back a smile at how excited they were both getting.

"Or when the president and Octavia say hello to each other!"

"When they say hello to each other?" I questioned, thinking that was an idiotic rule but by the looks on their faces I could tell I was wrong.

"You don't understand until you watch it."

That much I found to be very true. I didn't think I'd end up as drunk as I was but I quickly learned after three episodes that Octavia Poole and the president say hello a lot. An uncomfortable amount actually. Also Octavia _loves_ wearing black and drinking beer and she looked good doing both. She looked good all the time actually. The women was flawless and after the first episode I was fairly in love with her. By the end of the third episode and too many shots to count, I was drunkenly declaring my undying devotion to the WT screen.

Then again, I was so wasted that I'd probably declare my undying devotion to a pair of socks. Fred and James were on the same level as I was which was evident by the way James head lolled on my shoulder and how Fred was stumbling about the room.

"Where's my wand? Has anyone seen my wand?" He slurred as he tripped over nothing and almost smashed his head into one of the bed posts. "Mose, did you take it? You Slytherins are a sneaky bunch."

"Your wand is on the nightstand, Freddie." James told him, lifting his head and drunkenly flapping his hand in the direction of Fred's nightstand.

"You mean it's right where I left it?" He said as if that was the most amazing thing in the world and I laughed at his stupidity. Fred then let out a huge gasp as if he had just swallowed a bug. "I have the most brilliant idea ever thought of!" He announced and James rolled his eyes.

"Better than the time that you thought adding a levitation potion to firewhiskey would give you the ability to fly?" James asked and then turned to me to explain. "He forgot to add the potion, drank almost half a bottle of the firewhiskey, and then jumped from the Astronomy Tower."

I snorted and looked over at Fred who was waving James off, not in the least bit regretful. "No, listen! We should make a fort! Like we used to do when we were kids!"

I took one look at the gleeful, almost childish grin on James' face and I was instantly in. We immediately set to work, pulling the blankets and pillows from every bed to construct what ended up being quite possible the best fort in the history of the world… Or Hogwarts at least.

Using magic, it didn't take too long and as soon as we finished we collapsed in the center of the room on a bed that was made entirely of pillows that we had enlarged and made extra fluffy. James had done some charm work, probably too complicated for a normal thoroughly drunk teenager, to make the sheets hanging above us look like the night sky. I was nuzzled in between the boys and the three of us stared up at the twinkling stars grinning like proud, content idiots.

I realized in that moment how much I owed them. Had they just given me my wand and let me go, I probably would've put Mitch and Cyrus into St. Mungo's which would've been satisfying but this was better. So much better.

"Thank you both for everything," I said quietly and I really meant it.

Fred was already close to passing out and let out a little hum in response. James turned his head to me and gave me a smile that nearly knocked the wind out of my chest.

"Anytime, Mose."

WOW, I am so so sorry that it took me almost a year to get this done! I cannot apologize enough. I had so much of this written for months but then got horrible writers block and got stuck. BUT IT'S FINALLY DONE. I've been really excited about this chapter for a really long time so I hope you all like it. Please, please let me know your opinions! Who hates Mitch and Cyrus right now? How do you guys feel about Jordan's friendship with James and Fred? Favorite line or part? Anything? I'd love to know what you think! Love you all xx

Also sidenote: for those of you that didn't realize, 'The Affair' is based off of Scandal (which I do not own) and for those that do watch the show I hope you enjoyed their drinking game where I replaced white with black, wine with beer, whore with slut, and hi with hello :)


	10. Chapter 10

There is no denying that I've woken up to a lot of interesting sights during my seven years at Hogwarts.

My frequent sleepovers on the boy's side meant getting all sorts of things. Mitch, for instance, consistently had parades of girls sneaking out from his behind his bed hangings so I've seen more bare ass and poorly covered breasts than I'd like to admit. Silas, on the other hand, was rather well known for his sleep eating and walking and I found him once in the bathtub surrounded by dozens of Cauldron Cake wrappers and a half eaten bar of soap.

Those, however, could not beat the sight of an early morning, freshly showered James Potter. The sound of the door to the bathroom and the smell of citrus had caused my eyes to open and I nearly had an aneurysm when I saw him. A pair of black gym shorts hung loosely on his hips and his hair was even messier than usual after he had vigorously tried drying it with a towel. His chest was bare and dripping with water and it caused my mouth to go dry and my body to feel numb.

"Like what you see?" He asked in such a nonchalant way that I almost didn't realize he was talking to me. My eyes had snapped from his painfully perfect abs back to his face where he had a pleased little smirk waiting for me.

I groaned at being caught in the act and buried my face into my pillow. "It is too damn early in the morning to pretend to not be attracted to you." I said and he let out a laugh that somehow made me feel less embarrassed at getting caught staring at his wet, half naked body. "Why are you even awake right now?" The sun was barely even up and Monday morning breakfast was a typically very poor selection of pastries and oatmeal. There was absolutely no reason for being alive and functioning at this ungodly hour.

"Freddie's snoring always keeps me awake so I've just gotten used to being up early." He explained while he tugged on a shirt. "I'm surprised you didn't hear him." He paused to raise an eyebrow and a little smirk unfurled on his face as he glanced down at me. "Then again, I'm surprised that you're allowing him to cuddle you right now."

I had been so distracted by the scarcity of James' clothing that I had forgotten that Fred was even in the room. I especially didn't notice the fact that his face was nuzzled into the back of my neck and that a heavy arm was tucked around my middle. As if on cue, a large chainsaw like sounding snore erupted from his mouth and I shot up so fast that you'd think I had been electrocuted.

"I never pegged you as the little spoon." James teased playfully and the grin on his face was positively blinding.

My face inexplicably went bright red and I despised myself for it. "Piss off!" I told him as I threw one of the enlarged, fluffy pillows at his head.

He managed to dodge it right before it slammed into his thoroughly amused face. "Hey, you're the one that let him both snog and snuggle you in less than twenty four hours."

I scowled at the truth in his words before glancing down at Fred's still sleeping, somehow innocent looking body. I immediately softened. "Look at him though. All he needs is a collar and a leash and he could be mistaken for a cute little sleeping puppy."

I started to reach down to give him a little scratch behind the ears but he let out another loud snore and I contemplated whacking him over the head instead. "Okay, I take that back." I said with a grimace and snatched one of the blankets from him his grasp to stop myself from shivering. The Gryffindor Tower was a lot warmer than the Slytherin dorms but I was still cold in just a tank top.

James must've noticed because I suddenly had a thick black sweater being tossed into my hands. "Just don't burn it if I do something to piss you off." He joked and I stiffened slightly.

I wanted to laugh but it was then that the memories of the previous night all came flooding back. Getting drunk and being in the company of Fred and James had temporarily erased the words of my best mates from my mind but there was nothing stopping them from resurfacing now. My face fell instantly and James realized he said something wrong. "I'm sorry-" He started to say but I held up a hand to silence him as I finished tugging the sweater over my head.

I didn't look him in the eye as I pulled myself up from the fort's pillow bed. "I should probably head back now before the rest of the castle wakes up." Cyrus' voice calling me a slag was ringing in my ears. "Although, I suppose no one will be surprised to see me do the walk of shame back."

"Are you going to be alright?" James asked in a certain tender way and it was enough for me to look up. His golden eyes were searching my face as if they were trying desperately to read me. I felt indescribably vulnerable under his gaze and glanced down at my feet just so I didn't have to look at him.

"I'll be fine."

"You know what I mean, Jordan."

I didn't though. Not really. Was he asking if I was going to be able to make it through the day without using an Unforgivable on Cyrus and Mitch? Was he wondering if I was going to be able to play my part well and pretend like nothing ever happened? Or did he just want to know if _I_ was going to be okay? If I was going to be able to recover from what my best mates said about me.

I didn't have an answer to any of those questions so I just nodded again. "I'll be fine." I repeated, though I wasn't exactly sure that I would be.

With the exception of my crippling fear of heights, I like to think that I'm not afraid of that many things. I wasn't a huge fan of rodents and I am a firm believer that shit deep in the ocean should just stay there forever but other than those my only real and true fear was Hazel Scott.

When I got back to the Slytherin dorms, she was sitting on my bed with her legs crossed and her arms folded across her chest and I knew I was in for it. The thing was is that she wasn't even angry. She was worried. If she was angry, her nostrils would be flared or she would've already stormed out of the room. But no, she looked anxious, as if she had been sitting there waiting for me for hours.

She jumped up as soon as she saw me walk through the doorway and tackled me with a hug that nearly knocked the wind out of me. It lasted all of half a second before she was shoving me off of her and scowling at me. "Where on earth have you been?" She hissed and started tapping her foot with her hands on her hips like a total mum. I honestly feared for her future children.

It wasn't exactly unlike me to stay out at all hours of the night and not return until the next morning. Usually though, I was just crashing over at the boy's dorms so Hazel didn't have to worry. When I left to meet James and Fred in the kitchen last night I had asked her to cover for me but didn't tell her where I was going or when I'd be back. It was no wonder that she probably thought I was dead in the Forbidden Forest somewhere.

I felt bad for making her worry but the hangover plus the overwhelming dread of having to face the boys shortly did not have me feeling very apologetic. "It doesn't matter." I said in a low voice, not wanting to wake our other roommates. Cassie would definitely have a whole hell of a lot to say if she saw me sneaking back in wearing a bloke's sweater and I didn't want Hazel to be even more pissed at me for blowing her up on the spot.

"Doesn't matter?" Hazel repeated, looking thoroughly frustrated. "You reek of alcohol and we have class in two hours."

"Which is why I'm going to go shower," I said and tried to brush by her into the bathroom but she grabbed my arm to stop me.

"What's going on with you?" She asked, her voice full of concern. "This is the second night in a row that you've disappeared and gotten piss drunk."

I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to skip class and have a girls only day with her and maybe Izzy and just start from the beginning. I wanted to tell her about Fred and how he was my annoying puppy that I began to care deeply for in a short amount of time. I wanted to tell her about James who I now knew that I could trust even though I still wasn't sure where we stood. I wanted to tell her about how I flew and how he calmed me down and made me feel better. I wanted to tell her about our conversation that lasted for hours until we both fell asleep beneath the trees. I wanted to tell her about last night in the kitchens with Cyrus and Mitch. I wanted to tell her how James made me feel better again. I wanted to tell her everything. I couldn't though and it killed me.

"I can't handle the third degree right now. Just don't worry about it, okay?" I said with enough bite in my voice to get her to lay off and I instantly felt guilty when the hurt flashed on her face. I tried my best to ignore it and pushed passed her to get to the bathroom. She let me go this time without a fight.

I cranked the water to as hot as it would go and sank to the floor of the shower as soon as I was in it. For the first time since last night, I let myself truly _feel_ what they had said about me and it hurt. It hurt a lot.

I knew I should probably be more furious with Mitch than I was but it wasn't his comments that got to me. Yes, the things he said were fucked up especially considering he's one of my best mates but the things he said were nothing new. He teased me constantly about my sex life to my face. Mitch was an asshole on a daily basis so it was almost forgivable because I wouldn't expect anything less from him.

Cyrus is what stung. He wasn't exactly innocent when it came to the rest of the school. He wasn't the type of bloke to assist a lost first year to his or her class and he could be arrogant at times about his good looks and wealth. It had always been different with me though. He had been there for me through some really awful times in my life. He had defended me on countless occasions from guys that for some reason thought they were entitled to get into my pants just because I allowed them to get me a drink. He came to me sobbing when his mum found his dad having an affair and I sat with him for hours, just so he didn't have to be alone. He was my best mate but now it all felt like a lie and I didn't know how to move forward.

I cried until the water in the shower had run cold and until I had Izzy banging on the bathroom door saying she needed to pee.

Hazel decided not to wait for me to head to breakfast and I found her sitting alone at the Slytherin table with her face buried in homework that was probably due in three months. I'm surprised she even glanced up at me when I sat down but when she did she frowned. "Are you seriously high right now? Your eyes are all bloodshot."

Figuring it was easier to lie rather than tell her that I was having a break down in the shower, I nodded. "Thought it might get rid of the hangover."

She pursed her lips together and returned to scribbling in her notes, this time with a little bit more force. Knowing that she was disappointed in me and had probably nothing left to say, I pulled out my Potions textbook and tried to force myself to study for our midterm later in the week.

I thought I had dodged a bullet, not having to see them until class, but the boys came in with fifteen minutes left of breakfast. The four of them looked disheveled, even Scorpius, as if they had just rolled out of bed. "What, no wake up call this morning?" Silas said gruffly, as he sat down across from me.

The rest of the boys followed in suit and to my dismay Cyrus picked the seat right next to me. My entire body went tense and I had a very strong urge to 'accidentally' knock my scalding hot tea onto his lap.

"You guys are more than capable of getting yourselves out of bed." Hazel responded, not even lifting her head from her notes. I said nothing to them and refused to take my face from my book.

"But why set an alarm when we usually have one of you lovely ladies to wake us." Mitch said with a cheesy grin and I rolled my eyes.

Hazel's face flushed at him calling her lovely but she was still in an irritated mood so she wasn't going to break that easy. "Because you are an adult and it's time you learned some responsibility." She said in a sharp tone and I knew that was directed more at me than at them.

"Changing the subject from adult responsibility to a holiday all about recklessness and candy, what are we doing about Halloween?" Silas asked in an almost giddy way.

Halloween was his Christmas and he typically spent it gorging on candy during the day, getting wasted at night, and then passing out in a sugar/alcohol induced coma. If Halloween was his favorite day of the year then November 1st was his least favorite because normally it just involved a lot of vomit.

"Hufflepuff is throwing the party this year, right?" Mitch asked as shoved a bagel into his face.

"Yes, which means shit music but strong ass drinks so try not to end up pissed off your ass like the last time the Puffs threw down." Scorpius said with a half smirk and Cyrus and Silas snorted. Hufflepuffs were shockingly fantastic bartenders and were notorious for pretty much just getting everyone totally shitfaced whenever they were in charge. For instance, at Hufflepuff's end of term party last year, Mitch ended the night completely naked and face down on the beach of the Black Lake. Hagrid was the one lucky enough to find the sod and the poor guy started crying thinking he had just discovered a dead student.

"Regardless of how that night ended, I'm pretty sure I got laid thanks to the level of alcohol in the drinks so if anything I'm thanking the Hufflepuffs." Mitch said with a shrug, not in the least bit sheepish. "At least their house is good for something."

"They also always fuck us up every year in the costume contest which brings me back to the question of what are doing about Halloween?" Silas asked again but this time with a bit more persistence.

The annual costume contest was something Silas took very seriously. The boys always entered as a group and never failed to lose because Mitch, Cyrus, and Scorpius didn't bother trying to help figure out a costume until about two days before Halloween.

"Can't we just go as quidditch players again?" Cyrus said with a groan.

"No, dammit! That's why we lose every year!" Silas whined. "We need to go all out this year and do something really creative."

"I don't want to burst your bubble but I heard the 7th year Hufflepuff group started planning out their costumes back in May." Hazel said and Silas' face fell.

"Who thinks of a damn Halloween costume in May?"

"People that _actually_ want to win the contest and don't procrastinate." Hazel said fairly.

"What are you going as then if you've got it all figured out?" Silas asked with a nod of his head.

"Molly assigned me prefect rounds that night so it's doubtful I'll even be able to go." Hazel didn't seem all that disappointed about that fact though. After her last night out where she had her tongue shoved down someone's throat, it didn't shock me that she wanted to avoid another party at all cost.

"Well, no need to ask what Mose is going as." Mitch started to say and I glanced up from my textbook to see the easy, teasing grin on his face that I instantly wanted to slap off. "Let me guess, slaggy cat? Slaggy zombie? Slaggy nurse?"

"Fuck off." This was not an usual response from me but there was no humor in my tone. Scorpius noticed and raised an eyebrow but he was the only one that sense something was off.

"Slaggy cop was my personal favorite." Cyrus said with a smirk and he threw a casual arm on my shoulder causing me to immediately stiffen. "We had a lot of fun with the handcuffs that night, didn't we?" He said in a low voice, directed only to me but the only thing that I could focus on was the fact that him touching me made me feel physically sick.

I couldn't help but shake him off roughly and he finally was able to somewhat put together that something was not right. "What's wrong?" He asked and his hand returned but this time on the small of my back.

"Don't _touch_ me." I snapped harshly, unable to help myself. It came out a lot louder than I had intended and the rest of the boys and Hazel were staring at me in shock.

"Mose, what's wrong?" He asked again, this time softer, and his ice blue eyes were trying to meet mine but I knew if I looked at him I would either throw up or hex him to oblivion. I slammed my book shut and without another word, swung my leg over the bench in an attempt to get away from him as quickly as possible.

"Mose!" He called after me, causing a few heads in the Great Hall to turn curiously. I ignored him as best as I could as I finally made my way into the corridor.

"Jord! Jordan!" He yelled and I finally stopped and turned around. He caught up to me a couple of seconds later and he looked thoroughly confused and little out of breath. "What's going on? Are you pissed at me or something?" He asked and I opened my mouth to say ' _yes,_ yes I'm pissed at you, you complete fuckhead' but I quickly shut it. I couldn't tell him what I was mad at him for without somehow explaining what I was doing hiding under James Potter's invisibility cloak in the middle of the night.

"No." I somehow managed to get out between gritted teeth. I sighed because he didn't look remotely convinced. "I'm not. I'm just tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." I invented quickly. "Sorry for taking it out on you." The words tasted like poison coming out. I was _apologizing_ to him when I wanted nothing more than to tell him off and give him a good punch in the throat.

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you head back up to your dorm? We'll cover for you in classes if you want."

I forced myself to nod. "Yeah, I think I will."

He looked like he was going to give me a hug for a second but decided against it out of rightful fear before heading back into the Great Hall to finish his breakfast.

As soon as he left, James whipped the invisibility cloak off his head. I guess I wasn't really surprised he followed me considering he was like me in that he couldn't keep his nose out of anything. "You alright?"

The answer to that was an easy no. I was visibly shaking and I was clenching my teeth so hard I thought they might break just to avoid exploding on the spot.

"Duel me." I said simply and it was clear by his surprised expression that that was not what he was expecting to hear.

"I'm sorry?"

"I need to get my frustration out somehow so either duel me or have angry sex in that broom closet." I explained in rough voice as I took my wand from my bag.

He glanced in the direction of the broom closet and then eyed my wand warily. "Angry sex doesn't sound half bad."

"Potter, wand out." I demanded, not giving him the option because no matter how good angry sex would be, I needed to get a few hexes out of my system.

"Okay, okay, fine." He pulled his wand out from underneath his robe. "Are you ready or-" He started but I had already shot a jinx at him that he deflected a split second before it hit him. He tilted his neck to the side ever so slightly. "Well, alright then."

After that it was hexes and curses just flying constantly. Majority of them were coming from me because as soon as he would deflect one, I would already be flinging another in his direction. Typically in Defense I had no competition. The Slytherins and Gryffindors weren't even allowed to duel in class anymore because our professor didn't want us to kill each other and usually my partner was down within fifteen seconds. Poor Silas had been hit with more bat bogey hexes over the years than I can even count.

I appreciated the fact that James didn't hold back at all either. He was _good_. I knew he did well in Defense too but I had no idea how talented he was. I had blood dripping slightly from the side of my face where one of his curses just barely missed me and grazed my skin. It was the first time I had let anything get past one my shield charms in years and when it happened a smile overtook my face that was so big it almost hurt. I was having so much fun that the rest of the world kind of melted away for a couple of minutes.

I didn't even realize the crowd we had attracted of people leaving breakfast until our wands went soaring out of our hands. "What's going on here?" Professor Longbottom questioned, standing in the middle of everyone. Cyrus, Mitch, Scorpius, Silas, and Hazel were there and looked like they had been ready to intervene at any second. The guys were glaring maliciously at James and Cyrus being defensive over me made me want scream. All of the Wotters were present as well and looking confused especially Fred and Lily who knew that I was on good terms with James and didn't understand why we would be dueling. I tugged slightly on my ear after making eye contact with Fred to let him know that everything was okay. "Explain yourselves."

James began to open his mouth but I cut in before he could speak. I didn't want him to even attempt to take the blame when it was my idea have an all out duel in the first place. "I'll save you from trying to act like the noble Gryffindor, Potter." I said dryly before turning to Longbottom. "I threw the first curse, Professor. I don't think Potter would want to admit that he got hexed by a girl." I said in the most patronizing voice possible.

"She clearly uses the term 'girl' very loosely." He sneered back, playing his part well.

"Enough." Longbottom said sharply. "Detention tonight for dueling in the corridors. Don't let it happen again." He made a very poor move by handing our wands back to us. I liked Longbottom well enough. I thought he kind of had a hot, nerd professor thing going for him so I actually paid attention in his class. I think that and the fact that James was practically his surrogate nephew is how we only got one night of detention. Had it been McGonagall we would be cleaning bed pans for two weeks. "Get to class everyone."

The crowd quickly dispersed, all muttering and looking back with interest at James and me. The ones that stayed back were James' cousins and siblings surrounding him and then my mates surrounding me. The second that Longbottom was out of earshot they started in on each other.

"What the fuck are you playing at, Potter?" Silas snarled, looking nothing short of furious.

"Do your ears not work properly, Greengrass?" Louis snapped back and then nodded his head in my direction. "She threw the first curse. James was merely defending himself from your psycho step sister."

"She was probably provoked!" Hazel insisted heatedly as she glared daggers at Louis and my heart swelled at her defending me despite my attitude toward her this morning.

"What could I have possibly said to provoke her? Called her a slag maybe?" James tried in a pointed way that only Fred and I understood the real context behind. "C'mon, even I'm not that much of an ass."

My mates weren't buying that even though it was true. They immediately became convinced that he did just pass me in the corridor and offhandedly call me a slag.

"Fuck off, Potter." Cyrus growled. "Just cause Mose isn't slobbering all over you and your last name that gives you no right to be a piece of shit to her."

I heard Molly whisper something that sounded a lot like ' _as if James would even stoop that low'_ and I instantly felt like something you would find on the bottom of someone's shoes. Lily must've heard it too because I saw her slam her foot down on Molly's. Molly let out a little yelp of pain before rounding on her cousin who just pretended nothing happened. My appreciation for Lily soared once again.

James was paying them no mind though because he was looking at Cyrus with a smirk on his face as if he had been waiting for him to interject the entire time.

"Very defensive over your little girlfriend, Palmer." James said in the most condescending way he could muster. He took a step forward so he was closer to Cyrus, who was positively seething. "Or ex-girlfriend, I guess, because you guys aren't fucking anymore, right? What happened, huh? Did you cheat on her?" He cocked his head to the side ever so slightly and smirked again. "I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree then."

Cyrus looked like he had just been slapped and his face went bright red. Bringing up his parent's affair was a low blow but I knew James was purposefully trying to piss him off so he could pick a fight. _I_ couldn't hex the fuck out of Cyrus but James certainly could. I wanted him to, I really did, but when I saw Cyrus rip his wand out and James follow in suit I found myself inexplicably stepping between them. I disarmed them both and had their wands in my hand before they even realized what happened.

The corridor went silent when everyone's heads turned to see me with the wands. James' eyes were boring into me and I was visibly shaking again but really hoped no one noticed. I wordlessly handed James' wand to Lily and Cyrus' to Hazel, knowing neither of them would give it back if it meant a fight before stalking off down the corridor and away from them all.

I didn't even know where I was going. I wasn't walking in the direction of Slytherin dorms but I wasn't walking anywhere near Charms either. All I knew was that I could hardly breathe and I forced my way outside as fast as I could. The autumn weather was finally starting to hit and the cold air helped me catch my breath. I had just a few seconds of solitude that helped me regain a small fraction of my composure before I heard my name being called.

Silas came bursting out the door and quickly spun to face me where I was gripping the wall of the castle. "What the hell was all that?"

"Nothing-" I tried to lie but he scoffed and cut me off before I could even finish.

"Bullshit." He said gruffly before softening somewhat when he eyed the side of my face that was still bleeding slightly. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder and tilted his head so he could look me in the eye. "What's going on with you?"

I couldn't really respond to that because I didn't have an answer. "Are you embarrassed of me?" I practically sputtered instead, finally asking the question that I had been trying to force from my mind the entire morning. Out of all the things the Cyrus and Mitch had said last night, the thought of Silas being humiliated by me had been gnawing at me the most.

His brows furrowed together in confusion and he probably thought I was a bit mad but I needed to know. "What are you on about?"

" _Silas._ " I said simply and he frowned when he realized how serious I was.

"Of course I'm not embarrassed of you." He insisted with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Why would you even think that?"

"Why else would you get so defensive whenever someone calls me a slag or whore?"

He was looking at me as if I was crazy. "I get defensive because you shouldn't have to be called names by people that don't even know you properly." He said, not realizing that two of the people that know me better than anyone else were saying those things just last night.

"But then why did you get so pissed that I was sleeping with Cyrus?" I questioned, unable to let it go. "Were you afraid I was living up to the reputation?

"No, absolutely not. I just-" He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose before he let out another sigh. "I just think you deserve more than a casual shag around Hogwarts whenever one of you wanted to get off, okay? You know I love Cyrus. He's our best mate and I know he loves you-" I had to resist a snort at that. "But I think you should be with someone that _loves_ you in the way that you deserve to be loved. Someone that wants to take you on an actual date and says lame cutesy shit to you." He tugged at his tie a little and I could tell he was uncomfortable at getting mushy with me but he continued regardless.

"You were never going to get that with Cyrus or any of the assholes that you've hooked up with in the past. If I'm protective, it's not because I'm embarrassed of you, Jordan. It's because I want better for you."

Everything that he said was exactly what I needed to hear and I was suddenly so overwhelmed with the love that I felt for my brother. I wordlessly tackled him in massive hug that I hope conveyed how much I appreciated him. He wrapped his arms around me and held me against him for a long time because I think he sensed that it's what I really needed.

I pulled away eventually and Silas wiped a stray tear that had escaped from my face. "Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded. "I'm fine," I said and, for the first time all day, it was truthful.


	11. Chapter 11

Silas and I made the very wise, and very responsible, decision to skive off all of our classes and spend the day lounging by the Black Lake. Some of the time was spent napping considering the lack of sleep I had received recently but most was spent talking. Silas tried to keep the quidditch babbling to a minimum for my sake but that didn't stop him from going off on an hour long rant about Izzy trying to undermine him at practice. It was nice though, getting to catch up with him. I hadn't realized that in the past few weeks we hadn't spent much time alone together and I missed it. I missed him.

Professor Longbottom's owl had delivered the time and place for my detention with James during the mid afternoon. The hours had passed so quickly that I didn't even realize that the time had come for it until ten minutes before I needed to meet them in Longbottom's office.

Silas kept sending me pitying looks as he walked me there. "I hate that you have to spend detention with that asshole." He grumbled for the third time. "Do you know how long you'll be there?"

I shrugged, not concerned. Sitting in detention with James didn't sound as terrible as Silas was making it out to be, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "No clue. I've never had detention with Longbottom before."

"He's awful. He once had me help him dissect some sort of venomous shrub for four hours when I had detention with him. I still have the burns on my side from where it shot poison at me after I accidentally tickled one of its branches the wrong way."

I snorted at the image. Silas somehow always ended up with the worst detention stories. You'd think it would teach him how to behave properly but I suppose that would be hard with bad influence friends like us.

We got to Longbottom's office before James and I told Silas to head back to the dorms. I knew there would most definitely be some sort of stupidly immature confrontation if the two were to see each other. I didn't want to go in alone and be forced into awkward small talk with Longbottom so I slid down the side of the wall to wait for James.

He came strolling down the corridor not too much longer. His hands were stuffed casually into the front of his dark gray hoodie and his black hair was tousled to a messy perfection. He looked good, fantastic even, but there was nothing unusual about that. What was unusual were the harsh purple and red splotches surrounding a severely swollen eye.

"What in the hell happened to you?" I demanded and shot up instantly.

"What? Our little pal didn't tell you?" By his heavily sarcastic tone I knew he was talking about Cyrus. "I would've thought he would've been bragging about it any chance he got."

"I haven't seen anyone but Silas all day. Did Cyrus do that to you?" I asked and I lightly tilted his face to the side so I could get a better look. His jaw set slightly at the contact but he didn't move away from my touch. It looked like Cyrus put every ounce of effort he had into decking him with as much force as possible. The bruising was just starting to form but it already looked bad.

"He got a swipe in right after you took off down the hall. I didn't see it coming and then Hazel blasted us apart before I could retaliate." He sounded bitter that he didn't at least get a punch in. Hell, _I_ was bitter that he didn't at least get a punch in.

His bruised face felt like my fault. After all, if I hadn't forced him into a duel then there would have never been the confrontation in the corridor in the first place. I opened my mouth to apologize but he cut me off before I could. "Don't you dare say you're sorry." He warned and, even through swelling and bruising, his golden brown eyes bore into me with a ferocity that I couldn't argue with. I didn't have time to even if I wanted considering the door to Longbottom's office opened. Our professor glanced between the pair of us and our close proximity and frowned when he saw the ugly bruising on James' eye.

He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his graying hair. "Jesus, I knew it was probably a mistake to give you two your wands back but I never thought you'd whack him across the face, Miss Moseley."

"It wasn't her, Neville." James explained with an easy grin. His whole demeanor had changed as soon as he saw his favorite professor and family friend. I was surprised he wasn't putting on the same front for him that he had after we were caught dueling. "I just have a knack for pissing off Slytherins apparently."

Longbottom rolled his eyes but there was a little smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "So much like Harry," He muttered under his breath with an affectionate shake of his head. "Knowing it wasn't you that did it does make me feel a bit better." Longbottom said with a kind smile toward me. "I wouldn't want you breaking your hand over an ugly mug like his."

I grinned at James' mock offended expression. "Can you just tell us what our detention is instead of ruining the fragile self esteem of your students, _Professor_?" He teased and Longbottom rolled his eyes.

"Fragile self esteem, my arse." Longbottom snorted and turned back to me. He jerked a thumb in James' direction. "When he got voted _Witch Weekly's Fittest Bloke of the Year_ last spring, he didn't shut up about it for a good two weeks and sent everyone multiple autographed copies."

I bit the inside of my cheek at the way James' face colored and I tried to choke down the thought that he looked really cute when he was embarrassed.

"It was a joke!" He insisted defensively and threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "It's not my fault that no one appreciates good humour these days. Once again, can you tell us what our detention is so we can stop taking the piss out of me?"

"Stop your whining, will you?" Longbottom told him and stepped out of his office fully while motioning for us to follow him. "I could have you guys fertilizing plants with hippogriff manure if I wanted. You're lucky you're getting off with trimming leaves."

The greenhouses were a short walk from his office and James and him chatted the whole way about Gryffindor's quidditch chances for their match against Ravenclaw next week. "Any interest in quidditch, Jordan?" Longbottom asked in a lame effort to include me into the conversation. The boredom from quidditch talk had to be painfully evident on my face.

"None at all." I answered honestly. "I'm not too keen on a broom."

"Oh I'm a miserable flier too. When I had my first lesson I fell immediately off and broke my arm." He said with a small chuckle. "It's still interesting to watch though, don't you think?"

I didn't want to tell him that it wasn't a matter of being a poor flier. It was a matter of being deathly terrified of heights to the point where I couldn't even watch a live game without feeling sick to my stomach. James spared a glance at me and must've noticed my discomfort because he jumped in to save me from explaining that little fact. "Quidditch isn't for everyone." He said with a little shrug. "She's more into whipping hexes around."

He didn't say it in a condescending way like I would think he would in front of Longbottom to keep up the act. His tone was more of admiration than anything as if he was truly impressed with my dueling skills.

"I'll say." Longbottom replied as he unlocked the door to Greenhouse Three. "James is lucky he made it out with his life. You seem like you have a real talent for dueling." I smiled in earnest at that. I was waiting for him to ask what we were dueling about but he never did. Instead he just ran through with us which plants to tend to, how much to trim, and how to avoid getting stuck by thorns.

As soon as Longbottom left, I turned to James. "Does he know?"

"Know about what?"

"Us." It felt like the wrong word to use because it implied that there was something more intimate to our relationship but he understood what I was getting at. The casual way James acted to me around him made no sense unless Longbottom was aware that we didn't hate each other after all.

"Neville knows everything." He said with a fond smile. "He plays it off sometimes like he's oblivious but he feeds off of the gossip." He clipped a particularly large branch from the plant he was working on and it hissed menacingly at him. "It doesn't help that for some reason Freddie treats him like his own personal therapist and schedules weekly meetings with him to 'catch up'."

I rolled my eyes. Of course Fred and his big mouth had something to do with it. It got quiet for a little as we worked on the plants until James broke the silence. "You doing alright?" I lifted my head but he wasn't looking at me. He had a faint blush on his cheeks as if he was suddenly shy and I couldn't stop the smirk from hitting my face.

"I've had worse said about me." I said with a little shrug. I was trying not to dwell on the events of last night. Spending the day getting away from everything with Silas had briefly helped in forgetting what had happened but Cyrus and Mitch's words would always be burned in the back of my mind.

He shot me a look. "But from your best mates?" He said and gave a particularly violent cut to an unsuspecting, overgrown weed.

"I'll get over it eventually." I put down my shears and hoisted myself up on the table with the plants so my legs dangled over the edge. I grinned at him. "All else fails I can count on you for a good duel to keep me from murdering them."

He cracked a smile at that. "Speaking of, I have something for you." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. I took it from him with a raised eyebrow.

It was a brightly colored flyer that had _So You Want To Be An Auror?_ written at the top in flashing letters. It listed where to get more information, costs attached, and all the deadlines for applying.

"You should apply to the program." He said to me before I could even finish reading it.

I had told him the other night that being an auror was something I had been thinking about, but I had no clue what brought this look of confusion on my face was enough to have him keep going. "When we were dueling earlier today, it was the happiest I've ever seen you. And even though that kind of scares the hell out of me, I feel like you should do what makes you happy."

He was using an arm to lean against the edge of the table to my right. I wasn't sure what I was focusing more on; how close his hand was to my leg, his mouth, or the words actually coming out of his mouth.

"Why does it scare the hell out of you?"

"Because if you're at your happiest when hurling hexes at someone then I think that's reason to be mildly concerned." The corners of his lips pulled up ever so slightly. "You'll fit in perfectly with the other aurors though."

"I won't get in. There's no point." I folded the flyer back up, unable to look at it any longer. "They aren't going to take a pure-blooded Slytherin. I have 'dark wizard infiltrating the auror department' written all over me."

"I know the guys at the auror department." James said with an eyeroll. "They aren't nearly as prejudiced as you make them out to be."

"I'll have to think about it." I told him as I tucked the flyer away in my pocket and he didn't seem to like that answer.

'You're _good_ , Jordan." He said and the ferocity in his eyes was back. "Outstandingly good. You have the marks and the talent. Why would you not go for it?"

I didn't want to say that I was scared to apply but part of me truly was. Becoming an auror was something that I scarcely allowed myself to think about and I didn't want to get my hopes up for something and then be disappointed with the outcome.

I opened my mouth but I didn't have a response. James had every door open for him. It wasn't something that he would be able to understand. I was overwhelmed that he had even thought about it though. Me offhandedly mentioning being an auror the other night wasn't something I thought he'd remember. But he did, and he went out of his way to try to get me to pursue it.

I tilted my head slightly to the side as I considered him. "Can I ask you something without you getting offended?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "I have a feeling that you're going to ask me anyway no matter what my answer." He was very correct in that assumption.

"Why don't you have any friends?"

He snorted at my harsh phrasing. "I mean I _have_ friends." He frowned and then shot me a mildly concerned yet amused look. "Or at least I thought I did. Do I come across as some creepy loner or something?"

"Oh come on, you know what I mean." I said with an eyeroll before explaining further. "You only ever hang out with your family. Your best mate is your cousin. Your entire quidditch team is made up of your siblings and gingers. I mean, you're shockingly not as horrible of a person as I originally thought you were. I just don't understand why you don't have any close mates outside of people you share your DNA with."

He nodded his head as if he was thinking about what I said. "I guess you're right when you say I don't have any really close friends outside of my family. But I talk to my roommates enough and I get on with some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in our year. I have some mates in the summer quidditch camp that I went to a few years ago." James glanced at me and the slight color in his cheeks was back. "I have you." He added, but in an unsure way as if he was looking for confirmation.

I couldn't have stopped the grin that hit my face if I tried. "Yes, you have me." I assured and nudged his arm slightly with my leg. "In a deeply surprising turn of events, I don't strongly dislike you as much as I thought I did."

He gave a small laugh and shook his head slightly. "What's so funny?" I questioned and tried not to focus on the tiny dimple he got on his right cheek whenever he smiled. Our fingertips were just barely touching and his hip was lightly pressed against my knee which proved to be equally as distracting.

"I just kind of thought I had you all figured out." James admitted. "But the more time I spend with you, the less I feel like I know you." He saw my frown of confusion and decided to elaborate a bit further.

"I used to see you as exactly who I had stereotyped you into being." He explained and I couldn't help but take note of the fact that if he moved his face even an inch closer then our noses would be touching. "I heard what you said at Hog's Head the other night. You're a person. And I really don't know why anyone would ever be embarrassed of a person like you."

It took me no more than a second to cross the small distance between us to kiss him. To my surprise, it took even less time for him to kiss me back. He did so without even the slightest hesitation and with more enthusiasm than I expected. My legs wrapped around him to tug his body even closer and he most definitely wasn't complaining about that. I dug my hands in his hair while his seemed to be everywhere at once. His mouth tasted unusually fruity and somewhere in the back of my mind wondered if he stole some of Fred's chapstick. I caught his bottom lip between my own and I bit down lightly causing him to make a noise that I never thought I'd hear James Potter make.

It was one of those snogs that started off slow but then built and built until you felt like you were going to explode from the heat of it. I couldn't get him close enough. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I needed more of him. I needed all of him.

"So I was going to come in here to tell you to move on to Greenhouse Two when you two were done in here but I'm scared that if I leave you both alone any longer that Ginny will kill me for being responsible for her being a grandmother so young in life."

Though I barely registered the sound of Longbottom's voice, it was enough for us to break partially apart. We were both breathing so heavy it was like the air couldn't get to our lungs fast enough. My forehead was pressed against his and he was staring at me through half-lidded eyes.

We were both still frozen in place, hearts racing and skin on fire, either from the kiss or the embarrassment of getting caught. "Jordan, you can untangle your legs now and James you can get your hands out from under her skirt."

We finally jumped apart, this time so quickly it was like we had been electrocuted. Longbottom was leaning against the door to the greenhouse with his arms crossed. He looked as if he was trying to appear disapproving but I could tell he was actually thoroughly entertained.

"It's clear you're both not going to be able to focus on anything the rest of the night so let's just cut this short, yeah?" He suggested through a poorly hidden smirk.

We both kind of nodded because no words could come out. James held out his hand to help me down from the table. We caught eyes and I knew he was thinking what I was feeling. We had no idea what the hell this even meant. My mind was functioning but barely. If I was able to process anything, I would laugh at how ridiculous he looked. His hair was standing up every which way and his lips were bright red and significantly swollen, though I'm sure mine weren't much better.

"James, I'm going to escort you back to Gryffindor Tower mostly because I don't trust you two to not go find a random broom closet on your way back." He said and James tried to say something back but his response came out as kind of a hoarse sounding grunt. "Right." He then turned to me. "Jordan, I trust you'll be able to find your way back to your dorm?"

I managed a small nod and James casted one last look in my direction before Longbottom tugged him out of view. I had never been so fucked up after a kiss before. I was barely aware of my legs carrying me back to the dorms. I didn't know how it was possible to feel so numb yet so on fire at the same time.

It wasn't too late when I got back but the Slytherin common room was nearly empty. The exception to that being the last person in the world that I wanted to see lying on one of the couches. I should have known Cyrus would wait up for me. He had been doing so after any late night detentions of mine ever since second year.

It started after I took the blame for us attempting to sneak down to Hogsmeade without Peeves or knowledge of secret passageways on our side. McGonagall caught us before we even reached the Hogwarts gates. Cyrus was already on thin ice with Mitch from the week before for trying to blow up Molly Weasley's cauldron in Potions. He couldn't afford to get into any more trouble so I somehow managed to convince McGonagall that he had nothing to do with it. He felt guilty that I got a month's worth of detention for it and started waiting for me every night with a surprise in hand whenever I got back. When we were twelve, it was things like candy, joke store products, and butterbeer. The older we got, it became freshly rolled joints, booze, and sexual favors.

Tonight was no exception. As soon as he saw me, he sat up and tossed a metal flask in my direction. I caught it wordlessly. "I figured you'd need that after spending a few hours with Potter."

An inexplicable rush of heat spread across my body at the mention of James' name. "You alright? You look all flustered." He said and I avoided looking him in the eye. I didn't have the same stabbing feelings of hatred for him that I did this morning but then again, I couldn't feel anything except for the lingering burn on my lips from James.

"I'm fine." I said flatly. My voice sounded more hoarse than I was expecting it to. I think he thought it was because I had been crying or something because his expression instantly became angry and concerned.

"What did Potter say to you?" He asked, face instantly becoming red. I didn't like how he was so quick to jump down James' throat. I was very aware that he was looking for another excuse to punch James in the face as opposed to being actually concerned for my well being. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I said I'm fine." I all but growled and tried to go past him to get up to my dorm but he grabbed my arm to stop me. I violently shook him off causing him to hold his hands up in surrender. I knew by the determined look on his face though that I wasn't going to get off that easy.

"What the hell is going on with you?" He questioned, his ice blue eyes trying desperately to read me in the way that they used to do with ease. But he didn't know me the way he used to just like I didn't know him.

"Nothing-" I began, my teeth gritted and my face longingly looking in the direction of my dorm.

"Don't lie to me, Jordan." I almost snorted at that. Him telling _me_ not to lie was rich. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes.

"This is the second time you've snapped at me and you skipped all of your classes today. Hazel's been worried sick about you but is too scared to say anything to you. Silas said to leave you be but I need to know what's going on with you." He sounded frustrated but I couldn't find it in me to care. "Dammit, will you fucking look at me?" He demanded and I flinched at the harsh bite in his tone.

I finally turned my head to his. Despite the exasperation etched onto his face, I could see how concerned he was. Regardless of what he said the other night, I knew that he cared about me, which only made everything so much more difficult.

I was going to let it go eventually. Part of me knew that. There was nothing he could say that would erase all of our history and friendship. But I didn't trust him. I wouldn't ever trust him. At least not in the way I did before.

So I didn't say anything. I couldn't get words past the giant lump in my throat. I wasn't ready to talk to him and I certainly wasn't ready to forgive him just yet.

"You're kind of scaring the hell out of me, Mose." His voice was small and just barely there. The sound of it put another crack in my already collapsing frame. He looked like he wanted to reach out to me again but stopped himself when I took a step back.

I didn't want the feeling of James on my lips to be washed away with answering all of the questions on his face. Tonight was not the night for that and I didn't know when or if that night would ever happen. Without another word, I left him standing in the dimmed lighting of the common room alone. He let me go this time.


	12. Chapter 12

Every single part of me felt dead to the world when I woke up the next morning. At the time it seemed intelligent to down nearly half of the flask that Cyrus had given me as soon as I shut my bed hangings. Now, however, the hangover combined with the maybe hour of total sleep had me never wanting to remove my face from being planted in my pillow.

Right after I kissed James my mind had been blank and my body surrounded by flames. My conversation with Cyrus, on the other hand, had woken up my thoughts and made me feel like ice all over. I didn't sleep for more than twenty consecutive minutes the entire night.

How could I? I didn't know how to handle any part of my life. Everything went from being so easy to so complicated within a matter of days. Cyrus went from being a person that I thought I knew better than anyone to someone that I don't think I could ever trust again. Part of me wanted to scream at him for hours and hex him into oblivion. Another part of me though, currently a much smaller part, wanted to forget it ever happened and go back to the way things always were with us. I didn't know how to go about my world without him as my best mate but I also didn't know how to have a best mate who secretly thought so little of me as a person. I didn't know how to forgive a person who admitted that he was embarrassed of me.

And then there was James. James Potter used to be nobody to me. He was just someone in my life. Then he became my friend, someone who I trusted. And now? I didn't know. I had no idea what the hell that kiss meant and I hated what it was doing to me. I wasn't like this. I had never been that person to stay up agonizing over a hook up but I had never been so bloody confused in my life. I wanted simple. I _thrived_ on simple. I knew simple, but nothing about this was simple. Simple didn't feel like that kiss. Nothing I had ever experienced felt like that kiss and I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know how to talk to him and I didn't want to. I wasn't ready for him to pretend like nothing ever happened like when we shagged. I had formulated a very straight-forward plan by the time Hazel came to drag me out of bed: avoid any sort of confrontation with any male for as long as possible.

It was easier than I thought to avoid James. We didn't sit near each other in any of our classes and obviously didn't run within the same social crowd. I made sure to keep myself plastered to large groups of people so he couldn't sneak up on me with his invisibility cloak. It helped that Gryffindor also had an upcoming match against Ravenclaw that had them practicing like mad. The coin burned through a stack of my textbooks from him trying to contact me, but I ignored the attempts. What was harder to ignore were the auror applications that kept magically finding their way everywhere in my life. Every morning at breakfast a different owl would drop an envelope with one onto my eggs. I would open my potions notes and find one in between the pages. I went to bed one night and found one underneath my pillow. He was relentless with it, but I just added it to my list of things to try and forget about.

It was unfortunately a lot harder to avoid Cyrus. The first few days were brutal being around him. I couldn't stand the nonstop concerned looks he would send me and when I noticed the bruising on his hand from him punching James, I seriously contemplated decking him in the face myself. I tried to spend all of my free time in the library with Hazel, but there was no way to just suddenly cut him out of my life without being able to give some sort of reason. He was everywhere and he was slowly but surely wearing me down.

I went from giving him grumbled one word replies, to partial sentences here and there, and then back to full conversations. As the weeks passed, it became easier to speak to him without wanting to send him to the hospital wing and to shove down all of my anger toward him. I had forgiven him. Not completely, of course. His words would always slice into me, but he would tell a joke and I wouldn't be able to stop the laugh. We were back to sitting on his bed, sharing a joint. By the time Halloween came, we were back to normal for the most part.

I had decided on my costume just a couple of days after overhearing Cyrus and Mitch in the kitchens and it represented how I had felt at the time. That I was ready and able to kill a man. I'd like to think that I had successfully achieved that with the skin-tight, all black leather ensemble that perfectly formed to my body and enhanced some of my best features. My heels were tall and pointy enough to shank someone if I so desired. Fake tattoos that Izzy helped me create dotted my arms and helped me get the total badass look that I was going for. I wore my hair in big, loose curls held back by a rolled up bandana in a dangerous red that matched my lipstick. My eyeliner was even perfect. I looked good and I knew it. Izzy knew it by the way she grinned at me after she finished her tattoo handy-work. Hazel knew it by the way she eyed me up and down in a concerned way before she left for her prefect rounds and said 'be safe'. Even Cassie and Astrid knew it by the glares they gave me when I walked out of the bathroom.

It was the best that I had felt in awhile. My confidence was through the roof and I was so ready for the night. I was usually always in the mood for a party but after the past few weeks, I needed the free flowing drinks more than anything. Hufflepuffs throwing the party meant heavy-handed pours and horrendously strong party punches on every available surface, but that didn't stop me from taking a couple of shots with Izzy before we left the dorm.

She was dressed a giant bottle of tequila and planned on meeting the Scamander twins who were going as salt and lime. The costumes were brilliant but didn't make much sense considering the Scamander twins didn't even drink. Then again, Izzy had probably pregamed enough for the three of them by the way she stumbled down the steps.

The boys were waiting for me in the common room already in their costumes. They managed to go a small step above quidditch players in the creativity scale and just tied white sheets around themselves to be togas. It was stupidly simple and lazy but it showed off their arm muscles and some of their chests so they knew that they had that going for them.

Silas snorted when he saw Izzy. "Fitting costume, Brooks." He smirked. "You're exactly what I need to be able to tolerate a conversation with you."

Izzy responded by flicking her wand effortlessly at him to make his toga rip off his shoulder and fall to the ground. She then exited the common room without another word and with both middle fingers up in the air.

"You need to start picking your battles better, Silas." I said with an amused grin as he scrambled to fix his costume so he wasn't standing in the middle of the common room in just his underwear. "You should know better than to fuck with her when she's a had a few drinks in her system."

Izzy was a great time when she drank, but she put up with no shit whatsoever. During her seventeenth birthday party, Silas told her that her quaffle passing was sloppy at practice and she straight up broke his nose.

"She should know better than to mess with her captain." He grumbled. "I making her ass run laps the entire practice on Monday."

"Brooks likes running laps, mate." Cyrus pointed out. "If you really want to piss her off, bench her."

"Do not encourage him." I said with stern look and that's when I noticed Mitch staring unabashedly at my tits. "Keep it in your pants, will you?" I growled and whacked him upside the head for good measure.

"I'm not wearing pants. That's part of the problem." Mitch whined. "At least warn a bloke if you're going to roll up wearing something like that. This toga doesn't exactly hide hard ons well."

"Jesus Christ, we haven't even left the common room yet." Scorpius mumbled with an eyeroll. "You're going to get arrested if you get happy every time you see a girl in a slutty costume tonight. No offense intended, Mose." He added quickly.

I waved him off. Revealing outfits weren't exactly out of the ordinary for the holiday and I knew he meant nothing by it.

"Speaking of girls in slutty costumes, can we get moving?" Silas pleaded. "I need to get wasted to forget about the fact that Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw last weekend."

"It's not like that was much of shock." Scorpius said as he followed my brother out of the common room. "Besides Davies and Weasley, the team is completely hopeless. The only reason that Gryffindor didn't totally steamroll them is because Potter pitied his cousin."

"If he was smart he would've taken advantage of being able to score more points to put Gryffindor higher in the rankings. His arrogance is obnoxious." Mitch commented with no hint of irony as he showed off more of his toned chest by tugging down the top of his toga to a passing group of fifth year girls.

"At least it matches the rest of his personality." Cyrus muttered causing the rest of the boys to laugh in agreement.

The mention of James left involuntary goosebumps on my skin. I knew I was going to see him tonight. There was going to be no way around it. Staying plastered to my mates would be next to impossible after they all started getting trashed but I knew needed to face him eventually though and I was thankful that I had alcohol to do it.

When we walked into the Room of Requirement, it was clear that the Hufflepuffs were living up to their reputation. The music was predictably shit but everyone in view was already visibly intoxicated. And when I say visibly I mean that a girl dressed as a runaway bride was puking back into her drink cup while her friend dressed as a sailor got the overflow directly into her shoes.

"This place is already a total shitshow." I snorted and Cyrus smirked from beside me.

"Cheers to that. Let's drink."

And drink we did. Silas was wasted after railing six shots of rum within twenty minutes and then promptly ran to the center of the dance floor to make a fool out of himself. Mitch ripped a beer bong out of a fourth year's hand and then immediately followed it by doing a keg stand. He then proceeded to belch loud enough to ruin his chances of getting laid by anyone within a fifty meter radius. Scorpius, Cyrus, and I stayed in close proximity of the bar, stupidly challenging each other to shot after shot.

The fuzzier my head became, the more I found myself scanning the room for James and Fred. I blamed the alcohol for the sudden courage and strong desire to see them both. I hadn't realized how much I missed the pair until I spotted them standing around a little high-top table on the outskirts of the dance floor. They were surrounded by a pack of fawning girls, making it difficult to talk to them. Fred, ever the lover of attention, was eating it up while James couldn't look more uninterested.

I pressed my lips together to hide a smile while Cyrus slid another shot in my direction. I clinked the glass against Scorpius' and tossed it back. "If I black out tonight, I'm blaming you two." Scorpius slurred slightly and Cyrus and I grinned at each other. Drunk Scorpius was still somehow a mildly responsible person with his shit together. Black Out Scorpius, however, was complete trainwreck and we loved everything about it. The last time Scorpius blacked out he somehow ended up in the Ravenclaw locker rooms wearing nothing but a Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around his junk and half of his eyebrow missing. We still don't know how any of it happened and frankly we're all too scared to investigate further.

"Embrace the black out, mate." I told him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "It's our last Halloween at Hogwarts."

"It's your last Halloween at Hogwarts." Scorpius corrected, as he reached over the bar for some limes to go with the tequila shots Cyrus was pouring. "I've got another year left to rot in this place."

"What _are_ you going to do without us next year?" Cyrus questioned after he threw his shot back.

"Probably drink a lot less and not show up to class smelling like your pot anymore."

"Untrue." I said with a grin. "You'll need alcohol to fill the void that were going to leave in your life."

"No, but seriously, Scorp. You're going to need to find some new friends or a girlfriend or something to stop yourself from being a creepy loner." I couldn't hide my grimace at the mention of a girlfriend. I didn't need Cyrus encouraging Scorpius to try and wife up Rose Weasley.

"He's without a doubt going to get Head Boy next year. He's not going to have time for a girlfriend." I said quickly and then shoved another drink in his face to make him forget about the suggestion.

"Fine, then a fuck buddy at least." Cyrus relented and turned his body in Scorpius' direction to give him a remarkably serious look for someone eight shots deep. "When was the last time you got laid?"

My head snapped to my left for Scorpius' response. He merely smirked and squeezed some lime juice in his mouth. "A gentleman never tells, Cy." I pursed my lips together and tried very hard not to think about him shagging Rose.

"Mitch tells us about everyone he sleeps with."

"You're acting as if Mitch is anything even close to resembling a gentleman." Scorpius pointed out with a raise of his eyebrows.

"He has his moments," Cyrus defended with the corners of his lips pulling upward. "Remember last week when he held that bird's hair back when she wouldn't stop puking after they had sex in the shower?"

"Oh I'm sorry, remind me to give him a medal for his services to women across the globe." Scorpius replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, I don't really think there's any realistic or logical way into trying to spin Mitchell Walker into being a gentlemen." I snorted in agreement with Scorpius. "He's probably snogging somebody else's girlfriend right now while somehow simultaneously grabbing a fourth year's ass."

"Nah, I bet five galleons the bloke is already in a broom closet somewhere with some poor girl who doesn't know any better." Cyrus said and we all twisted around to try and scope him out. Turns out we were both wrong as he was still on the dance floor with a girl dressed in basically lingerie grinding her ass against his crotch with a shocking amount of force. They looked like they were fucking with clothes on and the whole thing was deeply horrifying. I averted my eyes from the disturbing public display and glanced back over at Fred and James who finally didn't have girls practically on their knees at their feet.

"I have to pee." I invented without a second thought and set my drink down. "I'll find you lot later."

I tried to weave in and out of as many people people as possible so they wouldn't be able to see me change direction from the bathroom to James and Fred. All of my hesitations to see James had evaporated and I couldn't get over to them fast enough.

The closer I got to the boys the more I could see their costumes, or lack of a costume in Fred's case. The bloke was wearing nothing but a massive bow covering his crotch and a sign slung around his neck reading "Godric's gift to women".

James was a bit more clothed in his muggle firefighter costume but not by much, and the sight of him damn near made me pass out. He wore long, thick dark pants, held up by suspenders slung around his bare shoulders and finished off the look with a shiny plastic red hat. I made a mental note that I was never going to listen to in my drunken state to attempt to keep my eyes off of his unfairly perfect chest and abdomen.

"Are you guys trying to give the entire female and sexuality questioning male population of Hogwarts a heart attack?" I questioned with a playful smirk once I reached them.

The next thing I knew I was being tackled into a tight hug by a very clingy and wasted Fred. He looked positively thrilled at the sight of me and if he wasn't squeezing my organs out of their rightful places then I would've felt the same about him. "Why if it isn't our long lost mate!" He exclaimed loudly, still clinging onto me with his head in my chest. I looked to James for assistance but the drunk and entertained expression on his face told me that he was going to be no help. "I was beginning to think you forgot about little ol' me."

I laughed and gave him an awkward pat on the head. "Fred, I enjoy you as a person, but you need to let go of me."

He shockingly loosened his deathlike grip on my body and instead took his hands and squeezed my face together with his palms. It wasn't a much better solution to be honest. "Seriously, Mose, we missed you. Don't disappear on us like that again." He ordered while wagging his finger at me in a disapproving way.

I wasn't expecting to get called out on avoiding them so early in the conversation and I was too drunk to come up with a clever excuse. "I've been busy." I somewhat lied and my eyes involuntarily shifted over to James. "I missed you guys too though." I admitted and reminded myself to blame the alcohol for saying that in the morning.

Fred's head snapped back and forth between the two of us and then his eyes widened in a gleeful way. "Wait, is this the first time you two have been near each other since you ate each other's faces off? Does that mean you're finally going to talk about it? I love talks. Start talking, please." He said this all very fast and in a thoroughly excited tone and part of me wanted to kick him.

It didn't surprise me in the least bit that he knew. Even if James didn't tell him, he would've figured it out for himself. Fred, despite being a class one idiot, was disgustingly observant and probably guessed what happened the second James got back to their dorm.

I cut in before James had a chance to say the inevitable. It was going to be better coming from my own mouth rather than to hear it from him. "There's nothing to talk about." I insisted and tried to keep an easy grin on my face as I glanced over at James. "Nothing happened, right?"

Something in his expression faltered for half a second and his grip tightened somewhat on the mostly empty handle he was holding. "Right." He agreed, his golden eyes not leaving mine. "It meant nothing."

"Right." I replied again though something inside me fell a little bit at the word 'nothing'.

"Right."

"Ri-" I almost said again but Fred intervened before we went all night.

"There's a lot of rights going on right now and I need more wrongs." He demanded, swung an arm around both of our shoulders, and tugged us in toward his body so that our heads almost slammed together. "AKA I need you guys to snog again because that's a lot more fun than not snogging. Or better yet, you could shag again. That's an even better time."

"If you don't let go of me in two seconds, I'll rip that bow off of your junk and set it on fire." James threatened but there was a definite playful air to his voice.

"Why are you trying to grab my crotch, mate?" Fred asked after releasing us and instantly put his arms down to try and protect himself. "That's technically incest. Mose, you're more than welcome to though." He said and threw a cheesy wink my way. "Think of it as a nice little Halloween gift."

"Little, huh?" I inquired with a quirk of an eyebrow.

James laughed while Fred pouted. "This costume is so forward by itself that it doesn't have a lot of good pick up lines, okay? Do you know how many brilliant lines I wrote for this prat?" Fred jabbed a finger in James' direction. "Muggle firefighter is gold when it comes to good pick up lines, but he hasn't used any and I feel disrespected."

I smirked and folded my arms across my chest. "Alright, let's hear them then."

"You can't just _hear_ them, Mose." Fred said, sounding truly offended. "They have to be presented in a seductive and sexual way or else they don't work properly."

"I feel like it's highly doubtful that they work properly in the first place thought."

Fred looked positively gleeful like he had been waiting for this the whole night, and a dangerous smirk hit his face as he wrapped an arm around his , despite himself, appeared deeply amused. "Is that a challenge?"

The stupid part of my brain kept me talking. "It is, in fact. Pick any girl in here and I promise you she's not going to get all hot and bothered from a few dumb pick up lines."

That was of course an idiotic thing to say because James cause be dressed as Voldemort and walk up to any girl and they'd probably still sleep with him.

They exchanged grins with each other before their entire expressions and demeanors changed completely and I realized that they weren't going to pick just any girl.. Fred took a slow, calculated step closer to me, put a hand on my waist, and tenderly took my hand in his other. He suddenly got a serious case of fuck-me-eyes out of nowhere. "Hey baby, you're on fire tonight. You want to stop, drop, and roll with me?" His voice was deep and seductive and my mouth nearly dropped open at the sudden change.

I almost laughed but then James was suddenly stalking toward me, eyes taking in every inch of my body. Fred still hadn't dropped his own contact with me but that didn't stop James from pressing his bare skin lightly against my side. He gently brushed a lock of hair from my shoulder, leading goosebumps to erupt all over my body. He leaned in so close that his lips brushed ever so slightly against my ear. "I could make you scream louder than any siren." I sucked in a harsh breath and I knew I was most likely the color of the Gryffindor common room from head to toe. Music pulsed loudly throughout the Room of Requirement but I heard none of it. There were people everywhere but they might as well not have existed.

Fred's hand then moved from my waist to cup the side of my face and he stroked my cheek lightly with his thumb. "I would climb you like a ladder." His fingers threaded through my own and it made me feel some type of way that Puppy Fred Weasley actually had moves even though that line was dumb enough to make me want to whack him with a ladder.

Then James was shifting again but I was still frozen in place. His hand fell onto the small of my back, just centimeters from my bum. I couldn't help but tilt my head slightly toward him. He was staring at me through half lidded eyes and his lips moved from my ear to dangerously close to the corner of my mouth. His voice was husky and sent chills throughout my body. "It's my job to go in when it's extremely hot and I never pull out until it's dripping wet."

I couldn't even process what he said because Fred suddenly clapped his hands together, startling me enough that I jumped and stumbled backward. I, of course, fell directly into James and nearly exploded from the contact. "That's my favorite one!" Fred exclaimed proudly while James steadied me, probably feeling the heat radiating from my whole body. I refused to look at him and quickly regained as much composure as possible.

"Why do I feel like you two practiced that entire thing for hours?" I tried to say in the most nonchalant way I could but I sounded more hoarse than I would've like.

"Is that your way of saying that the lines work and you now want to have a threesome? Cause I have to say, I think a threesome with my cousin would be a bit odd." Fred grinned at us and waggled his eyebrows in a mischievous way. "You two are more than welcome to go at it though."

James slapped him upside the head which I greatly appreciated. "On that note, I'm going to get us some more drinks." He announced and I was thankful for his absence so I could get my heart rate down to a normal level.

I should've known though that being left alone with Fred was never a good thing, especially when he had such a devious expression on his face. "So," He prompted simply and folded his arms across his chest expectantly.

"So?" I questioned, almost nervous for the follow up response.

"So what's the deal with you two?"

"There is no deal, Freddie." I said with a sigh.

"Oh please, James could barely talk when he came home from detention with you. I've never seen him like that."

"Nothing happened." I insisted simply and the more I repeated the words the more I tried to force myself to believe them.

"Riiiiight." He rolled his eyes and snorted. "So you've been avoiding him because you didn't like the way he trimmed the leaves off of plants and not because you two snogged the life out of each other and you don't know how you feel about it?"

I shifted uncomfortably at the accurate accusation. "I told you I've been busy."

Fred gave me a look and shook his head. "You're not fooling anyone, Mose, and neither is he."

"Please let it go." I begged in a desperate attempt to discuss anything else.

"If you guys would just talk about it instead of-" He started to say but went silent and tensed out of nowhere. A look of hatred that I had never seen before flashed in his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing, Weasley?" Cyrus' somewhat slurred voice demanded and I stiffened instantly.

"Why don't you tell me what I'm doing, Palmer? Because I _think_ I'm minding my own business and simply talking to a fellow Hogwarts student right now, but I could be wrong." Fred kept the taunting tone to his voice but I could hear the dark edge in it more than anything. I kept my face void of everything while Cyrus looked irate that Fred had the audacity to speak to me.

"Stop harassing my mate." He ordered and slid an arm around my waist to pull me against him. Cyrus was usually defensive over me at parties, especially when we had each had a lot to drink. He knew it was something I very rarely appreciated even if he felt it was in my best interest and I resisted my first instinct to push him off. Fred could easily sense my irritation and I could tell he was struggling to maintain his mocking, light hearted persona by the way his fists clenched.

"Wow, harassing?" Fred repeated with a harsh laugh. "That's a bit strong. We were actually having a very pleasant conversation before you came by and so rudely interrupted us." There was a definite bite to his tone now that sounded so unfamiliar coming from him.

Cyrus snorted and rolled his eyes. "As if you'd ever have a hope of getting into her pants."

A quick look of understanding hit Fred's face as he didn't comprehend that Cyrus thought he was coming onto me until now. "No one has a hope of getting into her pants tonight." He said simply and gestured to my skin tight leather outfit. "I'm surprised _she_ could even get into them. And funnily enough," He leaned forward and stage whispered the last part. "It _is_ possible to talk to her without trying to sleep with her."

"I know that, Weasley-" Cyrus retorted but Fred had no time for it.

"I'm not sure you actually do know that, Palmer." He snapped, finally losing whatever calm he had left in his body. "What I do know is that you're awfully defensive over a grown woman who is capable of speaking for herself. Perhaps you should channel some of these protective instincts into your beating skills. Then maybe you'd be able to shield your teammates from my bludgers for once."

Cyrus leaped forward, ready to swing, but I yanked him back before he could give Fred's puppy face a black eye that he didn't deserve. "Cyrus, let's go." I ordered and there was no arguing with the tone of my voice. I tugged him away while Fred waved mockingly at him from behind us.

Cyrus' arm wound its way around my waist and I almost slapped him when his hand made a purposeful shift dangerously close to my bum. "That whole fucking family, I swear-" He snarled under his breath. As soon as we were out of view of Fred and by the bar again, I wrenched out of his grip and rounded on him.

"You had no right to burst in there and treat me like I'm your property." I hissed at him and followed Scorpius' lead from earlier by reaching over the bar to nick myself a bottle of vodka.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at me, not understanding what he did wrong. He tried to take a swig from my freshly stolen bottle but I wiggled away from him before he could and he frowned. "Are you saying you wanted to be hit on by Fred Weasley?"

I wrinkled my nose at the thought. "Of course not, but I can handle myself and I don't need you using me to assert your dominance." I jabbed him in the chest with my finger to emphasize my point.

Cyrus looked entertained by my small outburst. After I finished dumping vodka down my throat, he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "I know you can handle yourself, Mose. Hell, you can handle yourself better than anyone at this school. I just thought you'd want someone there to back you up. You don't always need to handle yourself on your own."

I grimaced at him despite the fact that his words softened me up somewhat. "You're just trying to butter me up because you know you were acting like a territorial ass."

He pressed his lips together, trying to hide a grin, but I knew that he knew I was right. "Is it working?" He asked and I responded by immediately elbowing him in the gut.

He laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to pull me against him. "You know I'm just taking a piss, Jordan. I really am sorry for not giving you the chance to turn down Weasley yourself. I'm sure that would've been a sight."

"Who's to say I would've turned him down?" I teased. "He is Godric's gift to women after all." I said with a snort it in a way that Cyrus would think I was mocking him when in actuality I was amused by his costume. "He could've been the best shag of my life and know I'll never know." I said with a loud, mockingly disappointed sigh in a further attempt to rile him up.

"Best shag of your life?" Cyrus snorted and raised an eyebrow as he leaned slightly toward me. His eyes were slightly glazed over as he scanned my face.. "I thought I held that title."

While that was once true, I didn't exactly want to tell him that James Potter now held that honor. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You weren't that great." I said and turned my head away from him so I didn't have to look him in the eyes. It was a lie, of course. Cyrus was good in bed but I don't think anything could compare to James.

He knew I was full of shit and grinned. "If I recall correctly, you kept coming back for more."

"Must've been a weird lapse in judgement." I mumbled noncommittally and hated myself for still being attracted to him.

I was saved from those thoughts by a very fucked up Scorpius and Silas running up to us in a panic. "Cy! The girl Mitch was fucking with clothes on is apparently dating Ravenclaw's beater. Dude is massive. I think he might die tonight if we don't help him." Silas said quickly with nearly half of his words slurred. He grabbed him by the back of toga while Cyrus snatched the remainder of his drink from the bar as he was getting tugged away.

"You coming?" He asked and I shook my head, knowing it was best to try and keep my distance from him for the rest of the night.

"Don't get beat up!" I yelled after them as they stumbled through crowds of people to save our dumbass friend from his inevitable fate.

I grabbed my bottle of vodka by the neck and started toward the dance floor. I was trashed at this point and the sweaty hoard of wasted students seemed inviting to me as opposed to repulsive. I found Izzy having herself a time in the middle of the dance floor and I joined her in belting out the lyrics to an old Weird Sisters song. It was one of the only good songs that I had heard through the night and when the next shit song started blasting through the speakers I cursed the entire Hufflepuff house for ruining the vibe.

I stumbled to the outskirts of the crowd debating if I should go see if Mitch was still alive but I couldn't be bothered. I took another unneeded swig from my vodka but was distracted from the burn by the sight of James getting hit on by a horribly drunk fourth year. He looked like he was trying to let her down easy but she kept grabbing him by the suspenders to try and snog him. I found myself making my way over to them without a second thought.

The girl looked like she had started puberty yesterday yet she was wailing at him like a banshee saying how she wanted him to be her first. The secondhand embarrassment was strong and I put a light hand on her back. She jumped at the contact and James looked startled by me intervening. "Now, now we mustn't touch what isn't ours." I scolded lightly and stepped in between the pair.

"Who are you?" She all but snarled at me and I smiled sweetly at her.

"I'm mates with his girlfriend." I invented quickly. "I'd get out of here if I was you. She nearly tore a bird's hair out just for looking at him before. Quite the jealous type."

"Girlfriend?" She repeated, lip quivering, and promptly burst into tears before running away in the opposite direction. I turned around feeling accomplished and proud of my fast work.

"I could've handled that myself." He said ungratefully and grabbed his bottle of whiskey off of the table now that he didn't have a child trying to feel him up.

"You know a simple thank you would do for saving you from getting groped by a fourteen year old." I teased with an amused grin but he didn't smile back.

"I saw you forgave Palmer." He said, abruptly changing the subject as he brought his whiskey to his lips. "I have to say I thought you'd at least make him work for it a bit more."

"You know I could only ignore and be pissy with him for so long without him questioning it." I explained, already not liking where the conversation was going. It wasn't something I thought he could ever understand and I didn't like him being disappointed in me. "I needed to let it go eventually." He rolled his eyes at that. "Besides, he's my best mate."

"He called you a slag." He snapped, jaw clenched. It was then that I realized that he wasn't just disappointed in me, he was angry and the hypocrisy of it all instantly pissed me off.

"As if you haven't." I retorted and narrowed my eyes at him.

"He's your best mate." He repeated, throwing my words back at me. He snorted and glanced down at his whiskey before taking another big gulp. "Although tonight I'm pretty sure he has more than being your mate on his mind with the way he's been up your ass the whole night."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded and gripped the neck of my bottle a little tighter.

He gave me a look. "You know what it means, Jordan."

"We're friends, alright?" I growled. "It's not exactly a shocker that he's trying to talk to me at a party."

"'Talk', okay." He snorted again and then nodded at my chest. "And the fact that your tits are over halfway out doesn't have anything to do with it I'm sure."

I contemplated slapping him. This wasn't the James that I had gotten to know in the past few days. This was the old James and I hated everything about it. "He's not the one making me feel like a slag right now. You are."

"I'm not saying anything is wrong with it. I'm just saying the black leather is probably why he's trying to follow you around like a dog chases a bone."

I didn't like how he was making me feel naive and childishly stupid. I was a very sexually confident female. I knew the impact my body in the right clothes had on men. I knew when a bloke was hitting on me. I knew when someone was staring at my ass without even having to look back. I didn't need him telling me that the only reason a close mate of mine was talking to me was to get into my pants. I didn't need him making me feel like I was worth no more than my body.

"Why are you being such a ass?" I questioned through gritted teeth, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Why are you being so stupid? You think he suddenly doesn't feel the things he said about you the other night?"

Heat rose to my face. "It's really none of your business either way, alright?" I snapped.

"Yeah, until you come crying to me again when you realize the truth." His harsh words cut through me and I wanted to puke. I let myself be vulnerable in front of him and he was throwing it back at me in a way that made me feel pathetic.

"Fuck you." I snarled, my body shaking with fury.

"When?" He asked with a sneer. "Before or after Palmer fucks you?" That was the final straw for me and I picked a random unfinished drink off of a table and threw it in his face.

I blinked tears out of my eyes and struggled to breathe as I stormed off without a second look. I refused to give James Potter the satisfaction of me getting emotional over something he said. My head was spinning but I started chugging the what was left of my vodka to try and keep myself from losing it.

My feet blindly carried me back to the dance floor where unwanted hands and bodies pushed me in different directions. I was so overwhelmed and dizzy and just lost until I heard my name being yelled against the music. I turned, nearly falling over as I did so, and saw Cyrus pushing his way toward me.

"I've been looking for you everywhere." He said, glaring at a Hufflepuff that was eyeing me as he approached. I had to grip the sheet wrapped around him to steady myself. "You okay?" He asked and put his hands on my waist. The smell of alcohol was radiating off of him and I forced myself to erase any thoughts of my fight with James.

"Dance with me?" I asked, just wanted to distract myself and in a second I found myself pressed up against him. I tried not to think as I moved with him song after song and it was helping. I didn't stop it when his hands moved to my upper thighs or when his lips trailed down my neck and when he leaned in and asked if I wanted to get out of there I found myself nodding blindly back.

The walk back to the dorms was a blur. I vaguely knew what was most likely going to happen but I couldn't find it in me to stop. If this kiss with James meant nothing, then this had to mean nothing too, right?

I couldn't even look at him during. Any time he'd try to kiss me on the mouth, I'd tilt my head to the side and let him go for my neck instead. The hands that once knew me so well suddenly felt foreign.I made the right noises here and did the right motions there and played my part the best that I could. I could've told him to stop. I could've pushed him off of me. But I didn't. I just let it happen.

Cyrus' breathing was heavy when he finished and rolled himself off of me. "Jesus, I missed you." He said with a satisfied sigh and I resisted a snort. He didn't miss me. He missed fucking me.

His head turned to the side to look at me. "Did you finish?"

I was not the type of girl to stay quiet about my sexual dissatisfaction but I nodded. I couldn't bare the thought of him touching me to try and get me off because everything about him suddenly disgusted me. The sweat on his face, his heavy breathing, the way his stubble was patchy in certain places and suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"I need some air." I muttered and couldn't get out of there fast enough. My black leather ensemble was going to be next to impossible to put back on so I grabbed the first things out of trunk that I could find. He was too drunk to realize anything was off as I raced out of the room.

I stumbled out of the common room with my legs shaking and I clutched the wall to keep myself steady as I gasped for breath. That's when I saw James sitting a few feet away with the map on his lap and his nearly finished whiskey in hand and my stomach sank to my feet. He didn't even glance up at me and I barely even had to look at him to know that he knew. There wasn't exactly any denying what happened. He had to have seen us on the map and I was wearing one of his old quidditch shirts that had his number plastered on the front.

"I came over here to apologize." He was still just staring down at the map, refusing to make eye contact. "Say I was sorry for trying to interfere and that you were smart enough to make your own decisions." He snorted a little at that and shook his head.

"James-" I started to say, my voice sounding so small, but he cut me off.

His tone was unbearably calm when he finally brought his head up to look at me. His gold eyes were cold and unforgiving. "I couldn't care less about who you're fucking, Jordan. Go back to being nothing more than his whore.'' It felt like I had been slapped. He knew the impact those words would have on me though. He wanted to hurt me like i had just hurt him. Even if he wouldn't admit to it. He folded the map up and got to his feet. "It''s none of my business either way, right?"

"James, I-" I choked down a sob as he started to walk away.

"Save it." He snarled. "I was right about you all along."


	13. Chapter 13

I wasn't surprised that sleep completely evaded me. All I could do was stare at the ceiling and think about how stupid I was. I became less and less drunk as the hours passed and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and shut off my brain but I couldn't. I kept replaying the things James said to me and the look on his face over and over until it drove me mad.

I wanted to scream and cry at the same time but instead I just laid there unmoving, unblinking until the sound of Hazel's voice woke me from my thoughts.

"Mose?" She knocked lightly on the post of my bed because my hangings had been shut since I somehow managed to stumble to my room. "You coming down to brunch?"

All I wanted to do was bury myself deeper into my blankets but I knew it would be too suspicious. I lived for Sunday morning brunch, especially after a huge party the night before, and to miss it would definitely raise questions among my friends.

It took a second to find words to respond with. "I'll just meet you down there." I didn't want to face anyone until I washed all memories of the previous night off me.

Figuring I was just hungover, she didn't question it or how off my voice sounded. I heard the door open and close a few minutes later and by the sounds of Izzy's snores and Cassie talking in her sleep, I knew I was safe to leave my bed.

I stumbled to the bathroom, my head spinning, and nearly gasped at the state of my appearance. My once pretty curls were now just in tangled clumps that would be next to impossible to brush out. I hadn't taken off my makeup from the previous night and the black eyeliner smudges matched the dark circles under my eyes from the nonexistent amount of sleep I had. I was a mess and basically looked how I felt.

Even after I showered, I was still looking like a bit of a horribly tired, hungover troll but I couldn't find it in me to fully care. No one commented on my appearance when I got to the Great Hall because everyone besides Hazel looked like they had just been run over by a herd of hippogriffs as well.

She was happily sipping her tea and reading the Daily Prophet while the rest of our mates appeared as if they might die or throw up at any moment. Mitch couldn't even lift his head from the table as he funneled eggs into his mouth, Scorpius was pushing his oatmeal around his bowl, grimacing at it as if he might be sick, Silas was rubbing his temples to try and quell his headache, and Cyrus looked like he couldn't even keep his eyes open. No one so much as glanced up when I sat down.

My eyes shifted involuntarily shifted to the Gryffindor table. Fred was talking way too animatedly to his clearly hungover cousins, all of whom looked like they wanted to stab him with a fork but couldn't find the energy to do so. James, I noted, was nowhere in sight and my stomach lurched but not from the hangover.

I glanced around at my somewhat dead friends again and decided it was now or never. "Cyrus and I had sex last night." I announced casually and within an instant they all immediately woke up. Hazel and Scorpius had looks of surprise on their face either from the news or me just coming out with it so suddenly. I ignored the sound of Mitch choking on his food and instead looked across the table at Silas nervously. He had his lips pressed together as he glanced between the two of us and I had no clue what he was thinking. He didn't look angry and hadn't leaped over the table yet to kill Cyrus which was a shock in itself.

"What the fuck, mate?" Mitch said and elbowed Cyrus in the gut once he stopping coughing up his eggs. "How come you didn't tell me?"

"I was under the impression that we were just keeping it a secret," Cyrus said, sending a nervous glance Silas' way before he looked back to me. "Or at least not announcing it over the breakfast table."

"I don't want any more secrets." I said firmly as I piled pancakes onto my plate even though I had no intention of eating them. I avoided eye contact with Cyrus as I added, "And it's not something that's ever going to happen again."

"Okay." Silas said simply and started shoving another strip of bacon into his mouth. Everyone stared at him in shock. Cyrus breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Okay?" Scorpius repeated quietly, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at his lack of reaction.

"That's it?" Mitch was completely dumbstruck and had his mouth hanging open like an idiot. "Your best mate fucks your sister and all you have to say is _okay_?"

"Leave it." He ordered. "They are both capable of making their own choices."

"Who are you and what have you done with Silas Greengrass?"

I knew this had to do with our talk a few weeks ago when I asked if he was embarrassed of me being the school slut. My chest swelled with appreciation for him and I had a strong urge to jump across the table to hug him but I wasn't done with my announcements just yet.

"I also don't want to hear any more jokes or comments about me being a whore." I said to all of them even though it was mostly directed at Mitch and Cyrus. Hazel had a concerned expression on her face and I knew she was wondering where this was coming from.

Mitch's head snapped to me and looked like I just asked him to snog Hagrid. "I'm sorry, what? Slaggy Mose jokes are the best jokes! You love them!"

Loving them was a bit of an overstatement. I tolerated them because we ripped into each other all the time and I had thought they were just kidding. Until a few weeks ago at least.

"I'm serious, alright?" I said sharply. "No more slag jokes. I don't appreciate the fact that me having sex warrants insults especially from my friends. The next time I hear any comments made about my sex life the person is getting hexed."

"You're being a bit irrational, don't you think?" Cyrus posed with an eyebrow slightly raised. When he saw my eyes narrow slightly he quickly added, "I just mean that minus Hazel because of the whole virgin thing and Scorpius for the most part because he's annoyingly private we always talk about our sex lives."

"Yes, but the difference is no one is judging you guys for it. You lot could fuck everything in this school and you're applauded for it. I have sex and it's like I'm a fucking leper." I retorted. "I may be the school slut but I'll be damned if that means people look at me as less of a person because of it."

"Who's looking at you as less of a person?" Hazel questioned with a slight scowl on her pretty face, and I knew her instincts to protect me against assholes were coming out.

"This entire school," I responded, gesturing to the general student body before shrugging. "And that includes you all from time to time."

I moreso meant Cyrus and Mitch but the others had all been guilty of it at some point too. Scorpius joined in on the teasing every so often. Hazel couldn't always hide the look of judgement in her eyes. Silas had insisted he wasn't embarrassed of me but obviously still didn't approve of it.

They all went quiet for a bit before Hazel finally asked, "Where is this coming from?"

"I'm just done with it." I said simply. "I think I deserve better."

Silas had on a proud smirk from across the table. Hazel's expression was similar. Mitch, on the other hand, looked like he had been clubbed on the head. "Well shit." He mumbled with a frown, glancing at Cyrus to see what he thought about all of this. He was eyeing me with a funny expression on his face as if he was trying to figure out what was going on in my head.

I don't really think anyone knew what to say next so I decided a subject change was probably best. "So who puked this morning?" I asked and instantly all four boys had a hand in the air.

"Scorpius hurled in his bedside drawer as soon as he woke up." Silas snorted and a sheepish expression overtook my step-cousin's face.

"Does that mean Black Out Scorpius made an appearance last night?" I questioned with a smirk.

"After you two were shoving shots down my throat, he had no choice but to come out and play." Scorpius muttered only somewhat bitter and the corners of Cyrus' lips twitched. We were both pleased that we were responsible for Scorpius losing a little of control for once.

"What about you, Mose?" Silas asked with a nod of his head. "Toss your cookies this morning?"

"Last night." I replied and blew lightly on my tea.

Right after my encounter with James I practically ran to the loo and instantly expelled all of the contents in my stomach. After that was over I dry heaved for a solid ten minutes and thought I would die with my head in the toilet. I didn't know if it was from alcohol or the conversation I had with James but I figured it was the latter by the way my stomach flipped again.

I ended up glancing back over at the Gryffindor table again and I caught Fred's eyes for a brief second. His gaze shifted from me to Cyrus on my left and he looked away, a small frown on his usually obnoxiously happy face. I felt something in me collapse slightly and I thought I might be sick again, knowing that James told him and that he was most likely disappointed or angry with me.

I wanted nothing more than get up and go back to hiding away from my bed but I didn't. Instead I tuned out my mates sharing stories from last night as I stared down at my plate and thought about how badly I fucked everything up.

It was the first time in weeks where more than twenty-four hours passed without an auror application somehow finding its way into my life. Part of me wanted to approach James but I had no clue what I would even say. Sleeping with Cyrus was obviously stupid but even so I didn't think it was something I needed to apologize for because James and I had no claim to each other.

The words he spat at me still rang in my mind and it made me even more conflicted about whether or not I wanted to even attempt talking to him. In the span of just a few hours he had gone from the bloke that made me feel like I was better than what the school thought of me to calling me a whore and saying he was right about his original thoughts about me being nothing more than just a slag. And it stung more than I wanted to admit.

Even if I did want to talk to him though, it would've been difficult. James wasn't at breakfast again on Monday morning, nor lunch. We didn't have any classes together on Mondays and I didn't exactly have the privilege of having a magical map of the school or invisibility cloak to find him if I chose to.

Days passed with no contact. He eventually started showing back up to meals again every so often but spent most of the time just pushing food around his plate. The classes that we shared, we never talked in the first place, but he looked different somehow. I half expected Fred to pop up out of nowhere but he seemed to be keeping his distance as well.

By the end of the week, it almost seemed like they were never in my life in the first place. Well, that is until my mates came bursting in the common room after an afternoon quidditch practice looking downright murderous.

I had never seen Silas so furious. He was red in the face and positively seething. He paced around the common room like a madman, clutching his broomstick so tight that it looked like he might snap it in half. "If he can't play on tomorrow, I swear to Merlin I'll-"

"It's just his face." Scorpius tried to reason as he and Hazel collapsed on the couch next to the armchair where I was sitting. The former looked irritated while the latter looked tense and my interest was officially peaked when I realized Cyrus was missing. "As long as the swelling goes down around his eyes, he should be fine."

"Eventful quidditch practice?" I questioned, peering over the top of my textbook, figuring Mitch just accidentally nailed Cyrus in the face with rogue bludger or something. It wouldn't have been the first time.

"If you call Cyrus ending up the hospital wing after James Potter went psycho, then yeah, I'd call it pretty fucking eventful." Mitch grumbled and Silas let out a dramatic growl of frustration. I shot up so quickly that my book flew from my lap, nearly landing on Hazel's foot.

"Wait, what happened?" I demanded frantically, trying and failing to remain somewhat indifferent at the news but I was ignored by Silas ranting obscenities and threatening to burn Gryffindor Tower to the ground.

"Silas!" I nearly screamed and chucked a pillow directly at his head, finally gaining his attention. "What the fuck happened?"

He was too fired up to answer apparently so Hazel tried to do it for him. "Gryffindor was doing ground drills while we were in the air. Cyrus flew down to get some water and then I'm not really sure what went on to be honest." She turned to the rest of the boys. "Did you guys see what happened?"

"I mean, they were shit talking each other like usual and then Potter just decked him." Mitch explained, his voice practically shaking with anger. "Nearly knocked him out with one punch but the fucking asshole wouldn't relent."

My body felt like ice and I was frozen despite the hot rage building slowly in my stomach. "By the time we got over to them, some of his cousins had already pulled him off but Cyrus was already pretty fucked at that point." Scorpius' voice was quiet with a dark edge to it.

"And then Hazel wouldn't let us retaliate." Mitch grumbled under his breath with a disappointed scowl on his face.

"We have a match tomorrow." She said defensively with her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry if I didn't want nearly our whole time to get suspended over some stupid brawl."

"Did you see any professors around? Precious Potter got away with it, we could've too."

Hazel opened her mouth to argue but I cut her off, finally able to formulate words. "Is he alright?"

"He'd better be or else I'll fucking-"

"Is he alright?" I repeated in a sharp tone before Silas could continue with his fury induced threats.

"He'll be okay." Scorpius answered finally. "We had to practically carry him to the hospital wing because he couldn't see past all the blood on face but Madam Pomfrey gave him something for the pain and he was sleeping when we left."

"We would've stayed with him longer but Silas' nonstop swearing was disturbing the other patients and Poppy kicked us out."

"We can't win the bloody match if our fuckiyng beater's face is too fucked up to see the fucking bat in his hand," Silas practically shouted and looked like he was torn between crying or throwing himself into the fireplace.

"You can see why we got kicked out." Hazel said dryly as she shot my crazed brother a dull look.

"Any idea why Potter flipped shit?" I asked, thankful that I was able to keep my voice somewhat nonchalant as I tried desperately to ignore the urge to either vomit or hex someone or both.

Mitch shrugged, clearly not really interested in the reasoning behind James punching his best mate. "I'd assume it's some sort of delayed revenge from when Cyrus gave him that black eye a few weeks ago."

Hazel shook her head and had a frown on her face. "This was different though. Potter looked like he actually wanted to kill Cyrus. His family looked kind of scared."

"Even Fred Weasley, his partner in idiocy, looked like he had no idea what was going on." Scorpius added.

"To be fair, that's not that different from how he normally looks."

I couldn't help but tense when they poked fun at Fred and tried to imagine his reaction to James finally unleashing weeks of anger on Cyrus. I felt sick and struggled to quell the fury that was spreading throughout my body. James hated Cyrus, yes, but it was me he was truly pissed at and the fact that he was acting like I didn't exist and was taking it out on him drove me mad. If I had slept with anyone else, I don't think he would've reacted so harshly. He definitely wouldn't have thrown a fit and decked the bloke in the middle of quidditch practice.

Hazel was already looking at me funny so I didn't ask any more questions and tried my best to keep calm until my mates left for dinner. I made up some lame excuse about having to catch up on homework but as soon as they were out of the common room I found myself stomping over to Gryffindor Tower.

I didn't know if James would be there and knew that storming through lion territory unaccompanied was probably not wise, but I couldn't find it in me to care. He had been skipping meals so if there was any time that he would be alone, this would be it.

The walk over had me thinking about how quickly James had reverted straight back to his old, assholish ways. Between him giving me shit about forgiving Cyrus, to calling me a whore again, and then to punching Cyrus after a week of ignoring me, my blood started boiling even more. It made me feel like all of our progress over the past few weeks was just fake and that we weren't ever really friends in the first place.

I was practically shaking by the time I busted into the 7th year boy's dorms. James was melted into his bed, flipping through a quidditch magazine. Despite the ice pack on his most likely thoroughly bruised hand from beating the shit out of Cyrus, he looked like he didn't have an entire care in the world and it made me want to hex him.

"Are you fucking serious?" I demanded through gritted teeth to try and keep myself from screaming at him. He barely even glanced up and didn't seem all that surprised to see me.

"I know the boy's dorm rooms are like your second home, but aren't you a bit lost?" He said casually and the not-so-subtle dig only further fired me up.

"You put him in the fucking hospital wing." I hissed and snatched the magazine out of his hands so that way he'd actually acknowledge my presence. His jaw clenched when he saw me toss it to the side but he kept his relatively calm facade.

"I'm sure he'll recover with you there to nurse him back to health." He sneered and I wanted to slap him.

"You're acting like a petulant child that just had a toy stolen from him." I huffed. "Cyrus has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me and-"

"There's nothing between you and me." He said, effectively cutting me off, and the sudden venom in his voice was enough to make me take a small step back but I tried to stand my ground.

"Maybe if you hadn't been such a roaring asshole then-"

He was on his feet in a second, towering over me with his hands balled into fists. I tried not to be intimidated by the abrupt mood change but I couldn't ignore the anger etched upon every part of his face. "Don't you _dare_ try to blame you fucking him on me." He snapped, grimacing at me as if I was something he'd find on the bottom of his shoe. "Take some responsibility for who you let inside you for once."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, James."

"Don't flatter yourself." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You really think I'd be jealous of a shit beater who miraculously managed to fuck the easiest girl in school?"

My hand twitched for my wand as I took a step closer to him so that our chests were practically touching. The fact that he could stand there and slut shame me after he got so mad at me for forgiving Cyrus had me seething. He pretended like he was above Cyrus and the rest of the school yet he was no different. "You act as if you're so much better than him, so much better than me. Get the fuck over yourself." I snarled. "Your daddy may have saved the wizarding world but you'll never be more than just a kid riding through life on his last name. No matter how hard you try you'll never live up to him." I cocked my head to the side slightly as I considered him. "How disappointing," I said with a patronizing pout that I knew would get to him. I said it specifically _to_ get to him, knowing that the thought of disappointing his dad was something that James feared more than anything. If he could come at me, then I was sure as hell going to come at him with everything I had.

Something in his eyes flashed and in less than a second, his wand was pointed directly at me and my hand tightened on my own. "You don't want to do that." I warned as I eyed him dangerously.

"Don't I?" He posed and by the harsh bite in his tone I knew there was no backing down. "I held back the last time. You'd be a shit auror anyway. Wouldn't bother applying. They have standards in the program." A cruel, twisted smile hit his face. "No way they'd take a future Death Eater that'll probably sleep with everyone on the staff."

I didn't even realize that I threw the first curse until I saw him deflect it and hurl one right back. It missed me by less than an inch and another jinx was flying out of my wand before I could think. He wasn't the one that I was angry with when we dueled before but he was now and I threw everything I had into it.

Nothing about this duel was like the last one. The last one was fun and a sort of therapy. It was a way for me to get out my anger but I only became more and more furious with each passing hex.

James wasn't lying though when he said he held back before. How quickly he was whipping out hexes and the fury on his face scared me, but he had every reason to be scared of me too. We were pretty evenly matched, each intensified by our own rage.

I took the first hex. The power of it was enough to knock me on my ass and slam my head into one of the bedposts but it only fueled me more. I violently threw curses from the floor as I scrambled back to my feet. James managed to dodge all but one that had him flying backwards into the wall with such force that it made the room shudder, but it wasn't enough to stop us. Bright colors continued to blast out of our wands, lighting up the room in an electric fashion.

James' dorm was bigger than most others but it still wasn't exactly an ideal place for a duel. Pillows had exploded as curses hit them, leaving feathers flying everywhere and bed hangings were ripped to shreds. The room was shaking again as more deflected curses bounced everywhere but I paid it no mind until part of the ceiling crumbled and clipped me on the shoulder.

I yelled out in pain and it was almost not enough to stop me until I saw James, frozen, staring at the ceiling with a horrified look on his face. My expression matched his as more pieces came collapsing down and I knew we were about to be crushed. James and I scrambled to the door as the room rumbled around us. Hard fragments of stone crashed behind us and I found myself grabbing onto James without thinking as we tumbled down the steps together.

We landed at the bottom in a mess of limbs and torn and bloody clothes. James groaned from beneath me but I barely registered the fact that I was on top of him. Every part of my body was screaming in pain. It took everything I had to roll off of him and I nearly cried when my shoulder hit the floor.

We just laid there, eyes closed and breathing heavy, unable to move without every muscle aching. I had completely forgotten my surroundings until I heard whispers erupting throughout the room and heavy footsteps making their way toward us.

I popped open a single eye and saw Professor Longbottom and Headmistress McGonagall standing over us, surrounded by a lot of mousy first years that were most likely the reason they were here.

"Would you care to explain yourselves?" McGonagall questioned, nostrils flaring. Longbottom had a deep frown on his face and a look of confusion in his eyes. James groaned again while I simply covered my face with my arms and desperately tried to think of a way to get out of a disturbing amount of detention.

Unfortunately, when the head of Gryffindor and head of the entire school discover that you accidentally wrecked a dorm room, it's not exactly easy to just pretend nothing happened.

The journey to McGonagall's office was as silent as it was painful although I took some pleasure in seeing James wince as he walked. The second we lowered ourselves down onto the impossibly hard chairs in front of her desk, McGonagall started laying into us. She lectured us on using our wands instead of our words and how we behaved more like second years as opposed to seventh years. No part of my brain was able to pay even a little bit of attention to what she was saying. Longbottom just aggressively nodded his head in agreement as he paced behind her throughout the whole ordeal. James merely stared blankly out of the window.

Neither of us checked back into what she was saying until we heard, "Detention every night for the rest of term."

Our mouths dropped open ready to argue, but McGonagall was having none of it. "You two _destroyed_ part of the school." She said seriously, quickly reminded us of how much shit we were in. "I will also be writing home to your parents and will be deducting fifty points from each house."

My dad never bothered to open anything from Hogwarts so the letter home meant nothing but the points hurt. The level of punishment felt extreme considering McGonagall and Longbottom were able to magically fix the room in less than ten minutes. She wasn't done though. "Oh and Mr. Potter, are you aware that WizTellies are prohibited at Hogwarts?" She questioned and folded her hands on her desk. Longbottom's face went slightly pink behind her while James shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I wasn't aware that was a rule." James lied unconvincingly and she scowled at him.

"That's another week of detention." She said and I was unable to hide my smirk. McGonagall's head turned to me and the stern expression on her face told me I wasn't finished yet either.

"And Miss Moseley, I don't know why you think it is acceptable to be in another house's common room let alone the boy'sdormitory. Another week of detention for you as well."

I knew it would be useless to argue and she didn't give me time before she ordered us both to go to the hospital wing.

"I'm fine," We insisted in unison even though the blood and ripped clothes said otherwise.

"That wasn't a request." Longbottom said, speaking up for the first time since we were caught, and eyed us both in a way that dared us to disobey.

James got up without another word and I reluctantly followed suit. My shoulder was throbbing and the rest of my body felt like it got hit by a truck but even the promise of a heavy dose of pain potion was not enough to make me want to go anywhere with James.

The walk from McGonagall's office to the hospital wing was a quiet one. James didn't bother to keep pace with me and his long legs put him a few strides ahead. His back was rigid as I trailed behind him on the opposite side of the corridor, trying to put as much distance between us as possible, and wondered how we got to this point. How could he go from being my friend and someone I trusted to hating me so intensely? How could I go from having the best kiss of my life with him to wanting nothing more than to hex him? No part of me understood how everything changed so quickly.

The hospital wing was nearly empty with the exception of a few groaning second years that looked like they got into a battle with a foul smelling, thick green potion that seemed to be stuck to their skin. I almost didn't see Cyrus nestled in one of the corner beds, completely knocked on on pain potions and with a face so bruised and swollen that he was nearly unrecognizable.

I stopped short and couldn't help the small gasp that escaped my mouth. James' expression was blank when I turned to him, as if he was simply looking at a shit portrait hanging on the wall as opposed to the bloke that he beat the shit out of for no reason. My hands unconsciously balled into fists and my anger with him instantly resurfaced.

"Next time why don't you just piss all over me, Potter." I snapped and strongly considered reaching for my wand again.

"Excuse me?" He questioned, eyebrows raised. It was clearly the last thing he expected me to say.

"That's what this was, wasn't it?" I snarled, nodding my head in Cyrus' direction. "You wanted to show your dominance over him because you're mad that I forgave him and let him back in my life. You wanted to mark your territory."

It was the same alpha male bullshit that Cyrus tried to pull on Fred on Halloween and I was so sick of being treated like property to be fought over.

"By let him back into your life, do you mean let him back between your legs?" He retorted with a scoff. "Because there's a difference there."

"Don't try and pretend." I hissed. "You were pissy with me before that. I don't know what made you think otherwise but you have no claim over me. You don't get to dictate who I talk to, who I am friends with, or-"

"Who you fuck?" He finished harshly and took a step toward me. I fought the urge to back away from him as I stood my ground. He eyed me up and down with a grimace on his face as if he was disgusted by my mere presence. "You aren't, and never will be mine." He turned away with a shake of his head. "You made damn sure of that."

Before I could process what he just said, Madam Pomfrey emerged from her office to come fuss over our battered appearances. In addition to the bruising, swelling, and scrapes, James had a sprained ankle and a fractured wrist and my shoulder was dislocated with part of the bone completely shattered. James refused pain potion so that way he didn't have to stay overnight in such close proximity with Cyrus and me, but I was happy for the excuse to avoid the questions from my mates for as long as I could. As soon as Madam Pomfrey was done patching James up, he stormed out of the hospital wing without a word. I took the bed as far away from Cyrus as possible, shut the hangings in case he woke up, and counted down the seconds until the pain potion finally shut off my brain and knocked me out.

The days that followed were rough. Pretty much the whole school knew what happened by the next morning considering it was kind of difficult to keep destroying one of the dorms quiet, especially when one of the people that did the destroying was James Potter. Everyone also had found out about James punching Cyrus which led to two different rumors being spread around the school like fiendfyre and I don't know which one Cyrus hated more. The first was that I dueled James in retaliation and in defense of Cyrus. This led to comments about him needed a girl to stand up for him and his already fragile masculinity took a hit almost as powerful as James' punches. The second was that I was sleeping with them both and that's why James beat up Cyrus in the first place. The destroyed dorm in that rumor came from supposedly insanely intense sex with James that led us to apparently completely demolishing everything in the process.

The second rumor turned out to be worse for me and somehow more believable to the student population. It became an open invitation for me to get harassed by guys that decided they wanted a go at me themselves and jealous girls that would've killed to sleep with James.

The girls I could handle. They were more annoying than anything with the death glares in the corridors and attempted jinxes. Although, I could've done without them charming nearly all of my possessions to flash the words 'slag' and 'whore' in obnoxiously bright colors.

Even that was nothing compared to the guy's reaction though. If I didn't already have a target on my back for being easy, I most certainly did now. I became even less of a person and had blokes asking if I wanted to go wreck another dorm with them followed by creepy winks that were in no way attractive or appealing. One guy even was somehow under the impression that he had permission to grab my ass in the middle of the corridor. I could've simply hexed him and put him in the hospital wing for weeks but ruining his chance of having children and breaking my hand punching him the face was so much more satisfying.

My mates didn't know how to respond to any of were instantly convinced that the rumor was bullshit and hated to see me getting shit for it, but I told them to stay out of it. I already had nearly two months of detention and I didn't need them getting in trouble too defending me against every asshole in the school.

James, on the other hand, was being treated like a god even more so than he already was. Girls wanted to sleep with him even more and guys were impressed and tried to high five him in the corridors. The whole thing made me want to scream and the daily detention with him didn't help.

McGonagall kept passing us around to different professors and it was hours of nonstop insufferable silence. The only times words were exchanged was when the professor leading it tried to engage us in a very short lived conversation. Even when it was Longbottom or Hagrid, James barely uttered a word. He looked as exhausted as I felt. Part of me wanted to talk to him and go back to the way things were before Halloween, but he hadn't so much as looked at me in weeks and I was still so, _so_ angry with him. The trust that I once had with him was gone and I didn't think it was something that would ever be repaired.

I was heading back to my dorm after a draining three hour Sunday afternoon detention when I heard a voice calling my name. "Mose! Hey Mose, wait up!" I contemplated not turning around, but Fred Weasley was the type of kid to not be ignored.

I sighed and reluctantly let him catch up to me. I resisted shaking him off as he lightly grabbed my arm. "Let's go for a walk," He suggested casually as if he hadn't been ignoring me for weeks.

"I don't want to go for a walk, Fred." I said tiredly.

"You're walking right now." He pointed out and attempted to lead me in a direction different from my dorm. The was a light, teasing tone to his voice but his expression was remarkably serious.

"That's because I'm walking toward my bed which is the only place I have any interest in being right now." I stopped short and yanked my arm out of his grip as I rounded on him. "Besides, you've avoided me since Halloween so I'm really not sure why you think it's okay to suddenly come up to me now."

"I had some things to think about," He mumbled, looking sheepish, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Like what?" I snorted. "Whether or not you still want to be my friend?"

"No, it's not that," He said quickly, cheeks slightly pink at being called out. "Mose, please." The puppy face made an appearance and a few minutes later I somehow found myself sitting with him on a bench at the edge of the Black Lake. It was fairly warm for November but the light breeze coming off of the water had me tugging my jumper closer to my body.

"So James-" He began, wasting no time jumping right into the conversation that I really didn't want to have.

"I don't want to discuss James." I said sharply, cutting him off before he could continue.

"He's not sleeping." Fred said quietly, pulling the puppy eyes out again to try and make me feel sorry for him. "And he's not eating."

"My heart bleeds," I said sarcastically with an eye roll as I tossed a stone into the lake and didn't bother telling him that I hadn't been sleeping either.

"Just talk to him." He begged, throwing his head back in exasperation.

"Why should I?" I snapped and folded my arms across my chest stubbornly. "He has no interest in talking to me either."

"Because he's angry, Jordan." I jumped slightly at the sudden intensity and slight harshness to his tone. "I mean, can you blame him? He's not the

only one that fucked up here. You guys snog the life out of each other, then you spent weeks avoiding him, and then you go and shag the bloke that broke your heart-"

"Cyrus _did not_ break my heart," I hissed defensively and my face instantly heated.

"Not like in a relationship-love way, but in a friendship way." He corrected quickly. "And that's the worst type of heartbreak. James was there for you after he did that to you. And then you fuck him?"

I opened my mouth to respond but Fred wasn't finished. "I'm going to tell you something about James only because I think it might help you understand him better and why he got so upset when you slept with Palmer." He pursed his lips and hesitated for a second before continuing.

"James was in a relationship for a while and just a week before their two year anniversary she told him she had been cheating on him for six months."

"He was with a girl for two years?" I questioned, unable to hide my look of shock. "How have I-"

"Let's just say she couldn't exactly attend Hogwarts with us." Fred said pointedly as he waited for me to catch on.

My mind raced back to our conversation underneath the trees in the Forbidden Forest and it suddenly dawned on me. "It was that muggle girl he lost his virginity to, wasn't it?"

James never mentioned anything more about her other than the fact that it was in the back of her dad's car. He never said they had anything more serious. Then again, maybe I had just assumed they hadn't because she was a muggle.

"Yeah, James, if you haven't noticed, has a hard time trusting people outside of our family. He never knows if they actually want to be around him or if it's just his name they're interested in. Obviously she had no idea he's famous and I think he really loved that and it's what made him going after her in the first place." I stared out onto the lake and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in my stomach as he went on.

"They were together since they were fifteen but clearly it was a bit hard for her to understand why he could never call or text her while he hour was away at school and why they had to correspond through letters and why she could never go over to his house. It was really hard for him to keep lying to her and there was just no trust in the relationship. Emma didn't like all of James' secrets and James, knowing that his girl didn't know anything about his fame or name, was constantly scared she'd run off with someone else while he was at school and that's exactly what happened." Fred sighed and he had a tiny frown on his usually happy face.

"He was a little bit destroyed when she told him. And I know you guys aren't dating and aren't together or anything but you sleeping with Cyrus probably felt similar to her cheating on him." He paused to glance at me and bit the bottom of his lip a little before continuing. "Look, you are the first and only girl he's slept with other than her. You didn't give a shit about his last name either and didn't just see him as Harry Potter's kid. I think-" He sighed. "I think he feels like you betrayed him in a way."

"And you don't think that I feel betrayed?" I hissed back through gritted teeth, struggling to keep my voice from breaking. I became instantly irritated with myself for becoming emotional but I couldn't help the words from spilling out of my mouth. "Do you know what is was like for me to let him in? I trusted him. I considered him my friend and he made it seem like he thought of me differently than the rest of the school." I shook my head and turned slightly away from Fred so he couldn't see my eyes well up before quietly adding, "I didn't do anything to deserve the way he treated me before I slept with Cyrus."

"You're right." He agreed easily and nudged me lightly with his elbow. "I get why you forgave him, okay? He's your best mate. If I had so much history with a person it would be hard for me to just exile them from my life too. But c'mon, you have to admit that sleeping with him was fucking stupid."

"I know it was, alright?" I snapped and avoided looking in his direction because I could stand the disappointment in his chocolate brown eyes. "I don't need you to tell me that and I don't need you judging me for it. The rest of the school is doing enough of that already." I took a shaky breath and threw another stone into the lake, this time with a bit more force.

He didn't say anything back to that and waited patiently for me calm down a little before I went on. "I hate myself for sleeping with him, okay? I know it was wrong but I was drunk and I-" I didn't want to admit that what James said made me upset even though Fred already knew it. "Look, I know I fucked everything up with what I did but the shit he said to me was unacceptable."

"Kind of like the shit that Palmer said about you?" Fred countered with a raised eyebrow.

"That's different." I said quickly and shot him a look.

"No, Mose, it really isn't other than the fact that Palmer said it behind your back when he didn't think you were listening and James only said those things because he just wanted to hurt you like you hurt him. I'm not saying that's right either but you can't hold on to what he said and then act like what Palmer did never happened. That's not fair. If you both keep focusing on what the other one said or did and keep ignoring each other then this is never going to end."

"It already ended, Freddie." I muttered with a small sigh and a shake of my head. "I'd rather Rose and Scorpius get married and have babies than ever have to speak to him again and I'm sorry because I know you got stuck in the middle and that we can't hang out anymore but I'm just done, alright? It's over."

Fred, to my surprise, looked somewhat amused by what I just said. "Mose, this whole thing may have started with you and James but I'm not going anywhere. I'm your friend and regardless what happens between you two I'm still going to be there for _both_ of you, alright?"

My heart swelled and I tried and failed to keep a few stray tears from hitting my cheeks as I leaned my head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around me and tugged me against him. Everything about him was always so warm and inviting and it hit me how much I missed his presence over the past few weeks. I don't know how long we sat like that, just staring at the water, not moving and not speaking. "Do you have feelings for him?" He asked after a while, voice gentle and a little bit cautious.

I wanted my answer to be no but I couldn't bring myself to say it. I took a deep breath and whispered finally, "I think so."


	14. Chapter 14

Fred and I had been hanging out often ever since our little talk and it was welcome company. After just barely beating Hufflepuff in their last match, Silas had the team practicing like mad, leaving me alone most evenings. The exception to that being my nightly detentions with James, although those were still so silent that I might as well be alone.

I was shocked and grateful for how little Fred brought up James when we were together. He didn't push. He didn't pry. I think there was still probably part of him that secretly hoped if he started spending all of his free time with me that James would get lonely and decide to tag along. But he wasn't hanging out with me to mend the broken friendship, he hung out with me to continue ours.

He kept me entertained and we enjoyed sneaking into the kitchens to put together little picnics with a shared joint at the top of the Astronomy Tower. We would go to tea with Hagrid and he would introduce us to different creatures all of which Fred tried to cuddle even when they definitely should not have been cuddled. Most of the time though we would go for a walk around the Black Lake and just talk until it would get dark enough that we couldn't see the path in front of us.

Sometimes it would be about nothing. We once had a two hour long conversation about macaroni and cheese and what the best cheese to macaroni ratio was. Occasionally it would be about life after Hogwarts and how it excited and terrified us both. It was always his dream to take over a branch of his dad's company and help him run it but he was scared he'd ruin the legacy that George and his twin built. He wanted to get married with a big wedding and have at least four obnoxiously loud little kids that he could test WWW products on. I told him how I wanted to travel, but other than that I didn't have any set plans, which was somewhat true. I was surprised when he didn't question me about being an auror, which meant that James hadn't said anything to him about it. The applications that had once been annoyingly forced in my life had been all him apparently.

Fred would tell me about Allison and every time his face lit up as he said her name, my heart shattered for him a little. He talked about her as if she was his girlfriend and although he never said it, I could tell he loved her with every part of him. When he brought up the possibility of her finally leaving her boyfriend, in such a faux casual way as if he didn't _actually_ care, I felt something in me break. There was a hopeful twinkle in his sweet puppy eyes and I just wanted to hug him and tell him he could do better.

It would've been somewhat of a lie though and I knew it. Allison was basically perfect with the exception of her adulterous habits. She was stunningly beautiful, incredibly kind, wicked smart, and a great lay (at least according to Fred). I got the impression that she probably loved him a little bit too, or else I don't think she'd be the type of person to repeatedly cheat on her boyfriend just for a good shag. The issue was that she loved said boyfriend too and truthfully I didn't see her leaving him anytime soon.

I tried to be casual and lighthearted when Fred talked about her. I'd try and tease him about being 'the other woman' and a dirty mistress when in reality I disapproved of the whole situation with everything in me. When he talked about his big wedding, I knew it was her that he pictured walking down the aisle in a white dress looking like a princess out of a fairytale. When he talked about his four obnoxious children, I knew he wanted them to have her strikingly pretty green eyes and heart melting dimples. He wanted all of her and all she could give him was a decent fuck whenever it was convenient for her. He was going to get destroyed by her someday and I was terrified for when that day would come.

I was slightly dumbfounded and uncomfortable with how quickly I became attached to the kid and how much I cared for him. He was a grown man (well, for the most part) with a toned body nearly twice the size of my own yet I felt a huge need to protect him. Although, despite being a grown woman (for the most part) that can most definitely handle herself (for the most part), I think Fred felt the same way about me.

"You are the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Hazel, look at yourself and tell me you're not the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet. Izzy, is she not the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet?"

"The whole planet is a bit dramatic, but definitely the most beautiful person in at least Europe."

"Now you're both being ridiculous."

I grinned and squeezed Hazel's shoulders, wishing that she'd understand how good she looked and that she'd get that miserable pout off of her perfectly applied, lipsticked mouth. She had her first official date with Liam Lucas in fifteen minutes after Silas and the boys so rudely messed up the original one.

Now that Hufflepuff and Slytherin were done playing each other for the season, Hazel had nothing stopping her from going out with him. Liam even went up to her just moments after she caught the snitch and promptly asked her on another date, not at all bothered by the fact that she was the reason that his team would likely not have a high chance for the cup.

I supported the hell out of it. After being surrounded my whole life by quidditch obsessed boys, Liam not caring about the outcome of the game and just wanting to have another chance with Hazel, damn near made me burst with excitement.

Liam also seemed like the perfect match for Hazel. He was driven, involved in nearly as many clubs and activities as Hazel herself, got decent marks, was apparently damn good at quidditch, and he was boy-next-door attractive with his messy blonde hair and sweet brown eyes. Also it helped that they had already snogged and Hazel had clearly enjoyed it by the way she unabashedly let him stick his tongue down her throat in front of the entire school.

I spent my whole evening getting her ready. I curled her long silky brown hair that she usually liked to keep trapped in braids and ponytails so that it cascaded in beautiful ringlets down her back. She rarely wore make up so I did just the basics. Hazel was so naturally pretty that she really didn't need much to enhance her appearance. I let her borrow one of my favorite white cashmere sweaters that hugged and suited her perfectly and a pair of earrings that matched her eyes.

She looked amazing and I wanted her to have an amazing time. She deserved it. She went on dates regularly but has always been too hung up on Mitch to go any further with them and it frustrated me to no end. Mitch Walker may be one of my best mates but he's an infuriating, oblivious idiot. Even if he did realize Hazel's secret feelings for him, I don't know that I'd really want him to pursue her. Hazel was too good for him. Hazel was too good for anyone really, but I think her chances of heartbreak are a lot lower with Liam than they are with Mitch.

"You're the ridiculous one." I told her and picked off a small fuzz from her sweater. "Izzy, isn't she the ridiculous one?"

Izzy barely glanced up from her quidditch magazine. "Lucas would be a total git if he didn't propose to you the moment he saw you."

"See, I told you-"

"Although, you really should tell him to practice his dives a bit more. They're a bit sloppy and need work. I hear he's a good captain but he could benefit from-"

"Yes, thank you, Izzy." I said quickly before she went on a Silas-like quidditch rant that would likely go on for the entire night. "The point is, you look great and you're going to have a great time."

Hazel gave a small smile at herself in the mirror and I smiled along with her like a hopeful, overbearing mother. Hazel was far more mature and responsible than me, but we took care of each other in our own ways. Without me, Hazel's entire Hogwarts career would've been spent in the library. Despite not being involved in any extracurriculars myself, I'm the one that encouraged her to start joining them. Before we became mates, Hazel had been painfully shy and spent all of her time with a book in her face to avoid talking to anyone. I helped her break out of her shell. And without her, I don't know how I would have made it through third year.

"He's really nice, isn't he?" Hazel said, finally letting herself get excited for the night. She was more nervous than I had ever seen her for one of her dates and I took that as a good sign.

"Well, he is a Hufflepuff." I reminded her. "He'd be an insult to his house if he was actually a total ass."

"Do you think the boys will be pissed when they find out?" Hazel asked me, chewing on her lip, forgetting that she was wearing _perfectly applied_ light pink lipstick and I nearly had an aneurysm. I became immediately incensed that that was even a thought that was running through her brain. After Silas scheduled practice during the time of her first date to fuck it up, she didn't even care and even bought into all the bullshit about it distracting her from quidditch. Even still, she was worried that him being Hufflepuff's captain meant that he was off limits.

"Who the fuck cares?" I responded with heat behind my voice. "They don't own you and aren't allowed to dictate who you date." I was so sick of having to hide other people from my mates because they disapproved based on quidditch or other houses. It just seemed idiotic and immature at this point. There were nights when I so badly just wanted to say, _'See ya, I'm gonna go hang out with Freddie for a few hours'_ and not have to sneak around to avoid the world imploding. It was so frustrating to pretend like I agreed when they started talking shit about all of the Weasleys and Potters. I never thought there'd be a day where I _wanted_ to defend their family but couldn't. I still couldn't stand Rose, and James and I clearly were not on fantastic terms, but after hearing stories about all of the cousins and siblings, I knew they couldn't _all_ be as horribly annoying and terrible as I originally thought.

"They have no right to tell you not to go. They can't _force_ you not to go. Besides, it's not like Silas can just call a quidditch practice again in the fifteen minutes before your date starts." I pointed out. "Also, the whole concept of going on a date with someone from an opposing team affecting your quidditch ability is fucking stupid as hell."

"What do you think, Izzy?" Hazel asked, turning to our _deeply_ -passionate-about-quidditch roommate, practically begging her to try and talk her out of it.

"I slept with one of Ravenclaw's players and snogged a second one less than week from a match against them and I ended up scoring 90 points and knocked one of them off his broom." Izzy said nonchalantly with a casual shrug. "The whole experience was deeply satisfying so I say go for it and fuck what Greengrass says."

That was new, and delightfully surprising, information that I was incredibly grateful for. She may have been saying it because she enjoyed disagreeing with Silas on any matter possible but she was as quidditch obsessed as he was. If Izzy was giving her blessing for Hazel to go out with Hufflepuff's captain, then there should be absolutely nothing stopping her, but she still looked slightly unsure.

"I won't let them ruin this for you." I ensured firmly and I stormed out of the room without another word.

Hazel tried calling after me but I was already halfway to the boy's dorm. They seemed to be taking advantage of having a night off from quidditch and were lazily sprawled out across their beds. Scorpius had four different textbooks open in front of him, Mitch and Cyrus both had magazines in hand and were passing a joint back and forth between them, and Silas predictably was flipping through his playbook because the kid didn't know what a true night off from quidditch looked like.

They didn't even notice that I walked in the room until I let the door slam behind me. They all jumped slightly and their heads turned toward me to see a deadly expression on my face and my wand pointing menacingly in their direction. I didn't allow them the chance to speak before cutting straight to the point. "Hazel is going on a date with Liam Lucas tonight and I have some very simple ground rules for how this is going to go," I informed them with a dangerous smile on my face.

"You will be nothing but supportive and happy for her, you will not try to sabotage anything, and you will not guilt her in any way. Break any of these rules and I can promise you that I will personally destroy any future date or potential fuck of your own. Your ability to have children will be lost as a result of the hell that I will unleash on your most prized part of your body and I can assure you that you will be in the hospital wing for at least two weeks to deal with all of the other injuries I will inflict. Are we clear?"

All four pairs of eyes shifted to my wand held threateningly in my hand and they knew they had no chance. Scorpius was the only one that even had a prayer against me solo and his wand was sitting uselessly at the end of nightstand. I'd have the poor bloke stunned before he could even touch it. Mitch and Cyrus' heads snapped to Silas, as they waited for their captain to take charge of the apparent travesty that was their female seeker choosing and thinking for herself.

"You wouldn't hex your brother." He said with his shoulders back and chest out. It was a poor attempt to look tough but there was zero confidence in his voice and in his eyes as they watched my wand nervously.

My hand only gripped my wand tighter and I could tell by the way his eyes glanced at the door that he was trying to decide if he could make a break for it. "Try me."

"This is _quidditch_ , Jordan."

"No, this is a date with a normal, nice Hufflepuff boy who you've already played in quidditch and have no reason to dislike." I corrected. I saw Mitch and Cyrus out of the corner of my eye both try and sneakily reach for their wands like idiots. "Don't even think about it," I hissed at them and shot a warning jinx at Mitch's bed that burned a massive hole the bed hangings.

Cyrus held his hands up in surrender while Mitch violently chucked a pillow at Silas' head. "Do something about this!"

Silas took a small, fearful step back but continued with his nonsense. "What if we make it to the cup and play against them and their still together, huh? I can't have her not playing her best-"

"You're acting as if Hufflepuff could ever beat Gryffindor and as if Hazel is some daft, doe-eyed fangirl that would let some boy get in the way of her talent. Stop being bloody imbeciles."

"Dude, will you fucking grow a pair!" Mitch yelled at Silas while he ironically cowered on his bed with his face peeking out from the burnt hangings.

"I'm sorry, do _you_ want to go up against one of her hexes?" Silas retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Be my fucking guest."

"You can't let her go on a date with him!" Mitch shouted regardless and I shot another warning jinx at his bed. He gave a frightened yelp as wood chips from his bedpost blasted in every direction. He used his remaining pillow as a shield and chose to throw his magazine at my brother's head this time to get him to intervene. "SILAS!"

Scorpius and Cyrus waited patiently on the sidelines for my brother to take action and Silas' face set in a hardline as the pressure to do what was right for his team weighed down on him. "I need you to be reasonable here, Jordan. Lucas is trying to steal the cup from us."

I snorted at the irony of him asking _me_ to be reasonable in this situation. "Oh please, if Lucas wanted to destroy any threats to the cup, he'd go after on of Gryffindor's players."

As soon as I said it, I realized how fucked I was. That was the absolute last thing anyone should ever say to four fairly egotistical, quidditch-loving, Gryffindor-hating boys. Scorpius' eyes immediately widened at my words and darted to Silas, whose entire body tensed. Mitch and Cyrus were both on their feet with their arms folded angrily across their chests.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Silas demanded, sounding both furious and deeply offended, but I was saved from answering by Izzy unexpectedly popping her head in the entryway.

"She wouldn't leave until she knew that you didn't kill them." She explained and pushed the door open further to reveal Hazel hovering nervously behind her.

Hazel eyed my wand that was still pointed directly at our idiot friends. "See, I haven't killed them." I said, stating the obvious, although I left out that they all currently probably wanted to kill me. "And they are all so excited for you and want you to have a great time tonight," I lied through the fake smile that was plastered on my face and I could tell Hazel didn't believe me for a second. I swiveled around to the boys again and held my wand a bit higher, " _Right?_ " I hissed in a tone that they wouldn't dare to defy.

"Right." They all responded in dull, unenthusiastic, forced mumbles and I wanted to throttle them all. I created enough destruction with Mitch's bed so I shot the warning curse at the floor instead, causing everyone to jump as it rumbled and sparks flew at their feet.

"Now tell her that you want her to be happy and you love her." I ordered in an upbeat sing-songy voice that still sounded threatening enough to scare the hell out of them.

"We want you to be happy and we love you." They all chorused, this time sounding a little more genuine as well as terrified.

"See?" I said with a smirk, spinning back around to Hazel. Izzy's mouth twisted up into a thoroughly amused grin while Hazel looked vaguely horrified at me holding our four best mates at wand-point.

I sighed and took a baby step toward her. "It's going to be fine." I insisted, lowering my voice, as I squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. "They're going to be fine. I'll take care of them and you're going to have fun, okay?"

"By take care of them? You mean?" Hazel's eyes fearfully shifted down to my wand.

"I'm not going to kill them," I assured her with huff. "Go have fun!" I ordered as I pushed her gently out the door.

"Scared of your sister, Greengrass?" Izzy called behind her with a mocking smirk aimed at my step brother.

"Fuck off, Brooks!" Silas roared at her retreating figure while she just cackled in response.

If Silas wasn't angry with me before, he most definitely was now. I was not only keeping him from stopping a date between his starting Seeker and Hufflepuff's quidditch captain but I also insinuated that they had no chance against Gryffindor and humiliated him in front of Izzy Brooks. Honestly, I don't know which out of the three he hated me for the most.

The only times Silas and I have fought since we got Hogwarts have all been about quidditch. He once scheduled quidditch practice on my fifteenth birthday because Slytherin had a match against Ravenclaw's shitty excuse of a team the _following week_. It makes for a pretty lonely birthday when all of your friends play the damn sport and the rest of the school thinks you're a slut.

I would blow up at him for always thinking that quidditch was more important than things that actually matter and he'd rant on and on about how 'It's _quidditch_ , Jordan' as if that made his argument seem reasonable.

Right now I could tell it was time for one of those fights by the way his face was a dark shade of red and the tiny vein popping out of his forehead. It was also pretty evident by the way his wand was pointed directly at me along with three others that flanked him.

I almost rolled my eyes at their idiocy. "Don't be stupid."

"It's four against one." Silas reminded me and I snorted, unconcerned.

"You're acting as if that matters."

"We have Scorpius." Mitch retorted and I spared a glance at Scorpius. His face was blank and he couldn't have looked more uninterested if he tried.

I cocked an eyebrow. "You think he's going to protect you?"

Mitch and Cyrus exchanged glances. Scorpius was the only edge they had and they knew it. They also knew that Scorpius was the least passionate about quidditch in the group despite his talent. He was also the closest to Hazel besides me and the most likely to fight on her behalf. Not wanting to get into a meaningless argument that he didn't give a shit about was likely the only reason he had his wand in my face with the rest of his roomates.

"When will you learn to butt out of quidditch business that has nothing to do with you?" Silas snapped, bravely, and moronically, taking a step toward me.

"It's not quidditch business, it's Hazel business." I hissed and contemplated just knocking him on his ass then and there.

"Hazel business is quidditch business!" Silas explained thoroughly exasperated, forever not able to comprehend my inability to understand that quidditch was life.

"Will you _please_ stop thinking that a bloody sport is the end all be all of human existence?"

"Just because you're too fucking scared to get on a broom-" The second the words were out of his mouth, he crumpled to the floor as a mess of limbs. A small strangled sound came from Cyrus as he stared down in horror at his fallen captain.

I felt zero regret. He should've known better than to bring up my fear of flying, but I still had three wands stupidly aimed at me. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I questioned, mostly directed to Mitch and Cyrus, giving them one last chance to back down.

They glanced over at Scorpius for some sort of reassurance but they didn't find it considering he looked like he couldn't give a single shit about what was going on. They knew they were going to lose but their pride and love of quidditch got Mitch to hurl the first jinx at me. After that, they had no choice.

The only reason they were not down within seconds was that it was three against one and I was going easy on them. Mitch and Cyrus were red in the face but I wasn't even breaking a sweat as I effortlessly deflected anything that they threw at me. Scorpius had twice the power of Mitch and Cyrus combined but all of the hexes he was sending my way were half-assed, making them almost too easy to block.

"Why do you shitheads even care so much about who she dates?" I shrieked as I hopped and whipped my wand around, dodging and deflecting three different curses at once. I shot a particularly nasty jinx at Mitch that missed by mere inches and instead shattered the window directly behind his head.

He ducked and covered his face as shards of glass exploded around him. "Jesus, Mose, do need to get fucked or something? Is that what you're being so unnecessarily aggressive?" I decided the best response to that was to shut him up, which is exactly what I did with a well-aimed hex.

"Oh c'mon!" Cyrus yelled exasperated as Mitch's lifeless body hit the floor. "Will you fucking try, you prick?!" He screamed at Scorpius who wasn't doing a good job of making it seem like he was making an effort. Cyrus, on the other hand, was huffing and puffing as if he just finished a marathon. His normally perfectly tousled brown hair was sticking up in a thousand different directions and his white tee shirt was drenched with sweat.

He looked exhausted and knowing that he wasn't going to last much longer I took the opportunity to take him out of his misery and stun him too. He crashed down in between Mitch and Silas and the room instantly became pleasantly silent.

Scorpius lowered his wand and looked down at our three unconscious mates. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't finish them off sooner."

"I was giving them a chance to realize their mistake." I said with a grin and stuffed my wand in my pocket, knowing that Scorpius wasn't going to continue the pointless duel. "Wanna go get a drink? They should be out for a few hours at least. I didn't want them waking up until after she got home."

He glanced back at the forgotten, open textbooks sitting on his bed and then back at me. "I've got some pretty decent wine that I took from my parent's cellar before term started." He admitted with a tiny smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "Shrieking Shack?"

The Shrieking Shack used to be Scorpius and my spot when he first got to Hogwarts during my second year. Silas spent every spare minute on the pitch as the youngest on the team, we didn't become friends with Hazel until third year, and Mitch and Cyrus thought they were too cool to associate with a first year, despite having known Scorpius for ages, so, as step-cousins, we stuck together.

Not much had changed in the past few years. The number of cobwebs and dust may have doubled but all of the candles, pillows, and blankets that we stole from the common room ages ago were still there. It took just a few minutes to light the place, spread the blankets across the floor, and prop the pillows against the wall to make it feel like old times.

"So what's your take on the whole Hazel situation?" I asked after curling up and taking a massive gulp of wine. Scorpius was right when he said it was decent, but I should've known. The Malfoys didn't fuck around when it came to quality. I passed the bottle back to him and he took a hefty swig. "Clearly you didn't care that much by the way you were dueling. No offense."

"I'm not going to lie, it concerns me a little," He admitted with a light shrug and my eyes narrowed. "Not because of quidditch," He defended quickly and downed some more wine before handing it back to me. "Just because, I don't know-" He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I guess I just worry about her. She'll fight for you when it comes to asshole guys, but I don't think she'd do the same for herself."

"Aw Scorpius Malfoy showing that he cares about someone," I cooed obnoxiously and nudged him playfully even though my heart was melting a little at his words. Once she came into our group, Hazel and Scorpius bonded over their mutual love of studying too much and working too hard so it was no surprise when they became close.

"Shut up or I'm not giving you anymore wine," He threatened, fighting a smile, as a faint blush crept up on his cheeks.

"Look, Hazel isn't me, okay? She won't make the same kind of mistakes that I did." I reassured him, but now he had me suddenly worried. "You think Liam Lucas is an asshole guy?"

"She's been in love with _Mitch_ of all people for years and it's not like he's exactly bring-home-to-mum material." Scorpius reminded me with a snort. "Who knows what this bloke is like?"

He had a point and it was doing nothing to make me feel better about the fact I practically forced her on her date.

"So why'd you let her go and not try and take me down to go after her?" I questioned, turning on my side and propping my head up against my hand so I could face him.

"Cause she can make her own choice about who she wants to date regardless of quidditch or house," He said, proving yet again that, despite being a year younger, he was way smarter than the rest of our mates.

"If it only it were that simple," I said with a little sigh as I flopped down on my back and stared up at the ceiling. I was unable to stop my thoughts from suddenly flashing to James for some inexplicable reason and I hated it.

"Tell me about it." He mumbled as he brought the bottle of wine back to his lips. I knew he was thinking about Rose and while the thought sickened me, I was still focused on Hazel.

"If he hurts her, I'll kill him." I stated firmly and Scorpius made a noise of agreement.

"We all will, but we'll let you have first dibs." He promised me and I grinned at the possibility of destroying anyone that wronged Hazel. "Not that there will be anything left after you're through with him."

"Do you think it's going to be a battle every time if this date goes well?" I wondered aloud and hoped for all of our sakes that it wouldn't be.

"Who knows? Silas has always had a soft spot for Hazel so he'll probably let it go eventually. If it had been Izzy, he most likely would've kicked her off the team."

I shot up so fast at the audacity of that statement that I almost spit out my wine. "Off the team? For a date? Are you joking? He can't-"

"It's quid-"

"If someone says 'it's quidditch' to me one more bloody time as if that's supposed to mean-"

"Look, all I'm saying is that he's captain and he can do whatever the hell he wants to do," Scorpius defended quickly, effectively cutting me off from what was going to be a long rant. "But honestly I think he'll be too scared to go up against you again. He should've known better in the first place. You need to duel people more often to make the the whole school fear you."

I snorted at the suggestion. "I think that's the most Slytherin thing I've ever heard you say."

"We picked the house for a reason, right?" He said with a smirk and my eyes washed over his face as my mind raced back to the night where we revealed to each other that we asked to be in Slytherin.

We had been in the same room with the same silky green blankets and overstuffed pillows, but almost everything else was different. We were different. He was no longer the scrawny, shy little first year and I was no longer the naive, innocent second year. Our friendship was different too. We hadn't hung out just the two of us in years when we used to do so almost every night. We went from telling each other everything to keeping huge secrets, but I still trusted him. He was the only person besides James that knew that I maybe wasn't meant to be in Slytherin.

And perhaps I was nostalgic for how we used to be or maybe it was the wine that was making my head feel fuzzy, but suddenly I found myself turning to him and telling him something else that only James knew. "I'm thinking about applying to be an auror."

"An auror? Really?" He couldn't hide the tone of surprise in his voice and he was looking at me with raised eyebrows and I felt stupid for saying anything in the first place.

"Do you not think I'd be good at it?" I asked, unable to stop my face from falling.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding? You'd be bloody brilliant at it-"

"But?" I continued hesitantly, already knowing what he was going to say. He grew up the same way as me, with a last name that immediately had people looking at you suspiciously after they met you. He had it even worse. My parents were too young to have been involved in anything with the second war, but my grandparents were supportive of Voldemort during the first war and would've been for the second if they hadn't died before he came back. Scorpius' family, on the other hand, were in his innermost circle and Uncle Draco still wears long sleeves every day just to hide the Dark Mark burned into his skin.

"When was the last time you heard of a Slytherin _and_ pure-blood witch or wizard getting accepted into the program?" He finished and I frowned, despite already knowing that my chances were slim.

"So basically you're saying that the likelihood of me getting in nonexistent?" I asked just to confirm what I already knew. It made me feel better to just know I wasn't going to get in. James spent so long throwing auror applications my way trying to get my hopes up, but he was clueless with what it was like for us. He could submit an application with nothing but his last name to anywhere and they would hire him in a second. He had no idea what it was like to have doors shut in your face for the same thing.

"I never said that. I've just learned to not get my hopes up after all of these years." Scorpius explained with a little shrug. "If your dad wasn't head of St Mungo's then I doubt I'd ever have a chance of working there."

What he was saying stung, but I was grateful for it and I felt like I should've gone to him sooner about it. He was always honest even if he was saying was something I didn't want to hear, which is what made him sneaking around with Rose so much harder. I wasn't use to him lying.

"It fucking blows." I groaned and stole the wine back from Scorpius. I was definitely feeling the drunk coming on at this point and by the redness on Scorpius' face, I could tell he was too. "I hate that my family background is enough to keep me from something that I could actually be good at."

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't know, I feel like it's not something I should be allowed to complain about."

"What do you mean?" I questioned with my brows furrowed. He got called Death Eater spawn by ignorant shits weekly. How could he not want to bitch about it?

"Don't get me wrong, I bloody hate all the crap that comes with my last name, but when I think of the alternative a few decades ago, I feel lucky." After seeing my frown of confusion, he continued. "If we were muggle born, we would've had to go into hiding. We would've had our wands taken and we could've been killed by the people our grandparents supported." He explained with a small shake of his head. "We're _lucky_ all we have to deal with is getting passed up for a job and some negative comments."

I had never thought of it like that. I was never brought up to think of it like that. Any time my dad read the Prophet and saw a pureblood name being trashed, he would scoff and say how pathetic the ministry had become. He may not have been a Death Eater, but he was raised valuing blood status and he most definitely didn't support Harry Potter and the change he was trying to bring.

Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria also may have more progressive views than their parents but these thoughts definitely weren't coming from them either.

This was Rose.

This was _all_ Rose and while the thought sickened me, I couldn't exactly disagree with what he was saying.

"You don't always have to be so right, you know." I told him with a slight huff and a playful nudge.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill your dream or anything-" He began but I waved him off.

"Dream is an exaggeration." I said quickly with color rising slowly to my cheeks.

I hadn't allowed myself to think about it enough for it to truly become my dream. "Besides, I can't imagine what it would be like to work under Harry Potter." It wasn't far from the truth, but I said it with enough disdain in my voice for him to believe it was because I couldn't stand self-righteous Gryffindors and not my complicated relationship with his firstborn.

"How are your two months of detention with Potter going by the way?" He asked, raising a curious brow as he took another sip of wine. It was probably not needed considering the way his voice was beginning to become somewhat slurred.

"Fucking miserable." I sighed truthfully and sunk back against the wall, stealing the bottle away from him yet again.

"You spend two to three hours together every day and you haven't become best buddies yet?" His tone was sarcastic and there was a teasing smile on his face, but I couldn't find it in me to fake a laugh.

"Don't make me gag. Those two to three hours are spent in total silence." Not a lie. "I don't think the bloke knows how to have a conversation with someone outside of his family." Again, not a lie.

"That's probably because no one can tolerate being around his standoffish attitude for more than five minutes at a time." Scorpius concluded with a small snort. "At least you got a good duel out of it and got to destroy his dorm in the process."

My mates just assumed I went to put James in his place after he fought Cyrus, which was only half true.

"Can we not talk about James Potter?" I pleaded. Scorpius' eyebrows raised at the sudden change in my tone and my fallen expression. "I see enough of him as it is," I added quickly, so he didn't read anything into it, but it was too late.

"What's he done?" Scorpius demanded with a hard expression on his face.

"I don't know what you mean," I lied, trying and failing to appear nonchalant as I chugged more wine and refused to look him in the eye.

"C'mon," He scoffed, "Most Slytherins that I know would come back from dueling James Potter and not be able to shut up about it but we can barely get anything out of you about it."

"There really wasn't anything to tell-"

"Is he being an ass to you?" He questioned, cutting me off. His stormy gray eyes were remarkably serious and I didn't exactly know how to respond to the question.

"When has Potter been anything but an ass?"

"You know what I mean," Scorpius said duly, shooting me a look. "If he's treating you poorly, we can handle it."

'We' meaning him, Cyrus, Mitch, and Silas. I almost laughed as I tried to imagine the four of them trying to duel/fight James. He'd have everyone but Scorpius down the second they raised their wands.

"You don't think I can handle it myself?" I hissed, narrowing my eyes ever so slightly.

"You know that's not what I'm saying. You shouldn't have to spend two hours every night with a bloke that-"

I didn't let him finish. "I'm fine, Scorpius, okay?"

"Jordan-"

"Please," I practically begged. My voice sounded pathetic, but it wasn't a conversation I wanted to have. It wasn't even a conversation I _could_ have, especially not with Scorpius. "I really don't want to talk about it."

I didn't like talking about James. I didn't like even thinking about him and I had been trying to not to ever since our duel but with our detentions it was impossible. It sucked to be around someone that you once trusted and thought of as a friend to just nothing. Actually to even less than nothing considering he hated me. And I hated that I wanted to hate him, but couldn't.

He saw the look on my face and decided not to push it any further. "Fine, no talking." He agreed. "Let's kill the rest of this bottle and see if the guys have risen from their Jordan Moseley induced slumber."

"Deal."


End file.
